
Class FsBS 



Book >3 2.3 



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NOTES FROM A JOURNAL 



NORTH AMERICA 



IN 1883. 






BY W. HENRY BARNEBY, 



OF BREDENBURT COURT, BROMYARD. 



— *->->»:jfite<i>t-. 



HEREFORD : 
PRINTED AT THE 0FFICE3 OF THE " HEREFORD TIMES." 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.] 



NOTES FROM A JOURNAL IN NORTH AMERICA, IN 

1883. 

[reprinted from the "HEREFORD TIMES."] 

ARTICLE I. 

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC — NEW YORK — AMERICAN RAILWAY TRAVELLING — 
WEST TO DENVER, COLORADO. 

In the American tour made by my two friends, Mr. Mitchell, of 
Wiltshire, the late Mr. Clive, of Whitfield (in this county), and 
myself, during the spring and summer of the present year ; we 
all endeavoured to collect as much information as possible — more 
especially as regards farming and emigration — in the hope of 
thus being able to assist those at home who might be thinking 
ot seeking a new home across the Atlantic. There was a kind 
of unwritten agreement among us that whatever information 
we might be able to procure should, in one form or another 
(though not necessarily in print), be made available to those 
interested in the subject ; and, in sending these contributions to 
the Hereford Times, I feel I am but following out the wishes of 
the friend and fellow-traveller who has been taken from us, and 
whose loss w^e all deplore. Had he lived, we should pi'obably 
have made this contribution jointly ; but I must now endeavour 
to produce such information as I conveniently can alone, taking 
the same from notes made at the time, and from my own per- 
sonal observations, and selecting such subjects as I hope may 
prove both interesting and instructive. I shall purposely avoid 
all private matter ; and shall, as far as possible, touch only on 
topics of general interest, which will probably include matters 
relating to California, British Columbia, Manitoba, and the 
North- West Territory ; and I hope that the information thus 
given may be useful to future travellers, and to (at any rate) 
some emigrants, for I shall refrain from stating anything but 
actual facts which came within my own knowledge. 

It was our intention to have devoted a considerable time on 
our homeward route to the older states and provinces, and to 
have visited the new homes of the Hereford cattle ; but these 
projects were unhappily cut short by the sudden calamity of Mr. 
Clive's death. 

A full account of our travels might, I fear, prove wearisome, 
and would take several months to print in newspaper form ; I 
have, therefore, decided on publishing only six articles, the 



materials for which I shall select from my journal, choosing 
those portions which I think may prove of the greatest interest, 
and trusting that the reader will accept my contributions in the 
same spirit in which they are given. 

On the 10th May, 1883, I started on my second American 
tour, accompanied by my friends, the late Mr. Meysey Clive and 
Mr. Arthur Mitchell. We sailed in the S.S. Germanic (5,004 
tons). White Star Line ; Captain Kennedy, commander. She is 
a fine vessel, and an excellent sea-boat ; but, as it is not my 
intention to recommend one line of steamers in preference to 
another, I will merely state that she was in every way as 
comfortable and as well managed as any vessel need be. I felt 
myself very much at home on board, as I had crossed the Atlan- 
tic in 1881, in the sister ship, the Britannic, of which the Ger- 
manic is in fcvery respect a facsimile. We had secured the best 
accommodation procui'able — namely, the Pui^ser's cabin on deck 
for one of our party, and a large roomy family cabin below for the 
other two. 

One cannot judge properly of an ocean steamer except by 
experience as a passenger, but the following hints may be use- 
ful : — Engage your berth as long- beforehand as you can, and, if 
possible, get it in front of the engine-room and dining saloon, so as 
to avoid the heat and smell — for, of course, when the vessel is in 
motion the current of air always blows aft. Take your berth also 
as near the centre of the vessel as you can, and always engage one 
in an outside cabin (that is, one near a port-hole), for those in 
the inside cabins have less light and no fresh air,. By paying 
a little extra, an officer's cabin is usually obtainable ; and this in 
the summer months is a very great advantage, as these cabins 
are generally on deck. In winter or in rough weather, howevei-, 
the motion is less felt down below ; and the nearer you can get 
to the keel the better. Upon going on board, make early arrange- 
ments with the bath man, to put your name down for a certain 
hour. On some of the vessels this official is also the barber and 
hair-dresser; so that, should you wish it, you can get properlj 
" fixed up " every morning. The houi's for meals are,generally— - 
breakfast, 8 or 8.o0 till 10 a.m. ; luncheon, 1 p.m. ; dinner, 6 
p.m. ; supper, auy time you like to ask for it. Thei-e are, there- 
fore, quite enough opportunities for eating and drinking, and 
the food is all of high quality and well served. Some people, 
however, resign themselves to their fate immediately they come 
on board ; and, retiring' to theii' cabins, are never seen again 
until they reach the other side of the Atlantic. Passengers of 
this class are not entitled to be placed under the head of good 
sailors, and must be a real blessing to the victualling depart- 
ment. The rule is for lights to be put out at eleven, p.m. ; 
but, I believe, one can have one burning the whole night through 
if desired. Of coui-se, there is a smoking-room, — it is on deck ; 
and no smoking is allowed down below. 

The above remai-ks apply to first-class passengers oidy, but 



a few hints to second-class passengei's may also be useful. Most 
lines carry both steerage and " intermediate " passengers, the 
former being of the ordinary emigrant class. On large steamers 
different nationalities are, when below, divided off into separate 
quarters. The accommodation is as good as can be expected, 
but, of course, the space allotted to each person is very limited ; 
the feeding, however, is excellent, and every care is paid to 
cleanliness. What is called the " intermediate " is accommoda- 
tion between the saloon and the emigi^ant class ; in this, rooms for 
whole families are procurable at a rate very little above the steer- 
age fare ; and the pai-t of the vessel allotted to these passengers 
is generally about the steadiest on board. I have purposely 
refrained from quoting the fares across the Atlantic, for these 
prices are easily obtainable by writing to any of the Transatlantic 
shipping offices, and different lines vary, according to the 
accommodation they have to offer. 

In conclusion, I consider that the horrors of an Atlantic 
passage are very much over- rated ; and, as far as I am concerned, 
I would rather spend nine days on board one of these magnificent 
vessels, than the same number of hours on a Channel steamboat. 
Some people woidd be astonished if they could witness the 
ordinary dinner-table of an ocean steamer, and see from oue to 
two hundred people sitting down to a well-served dinner in a 
handsome saloon, and looking just as comfortable there, when in 
mid-ocean, as they would at a table d'hote in a first-class 
hotel — assuming the Atlantic to be on good behaviour. 

But I must return to our travels. We had a beautiful run 
down the Mersey, and were favoured with calm sea and fine 
weather until we reached Queenstown, where, as we had some 
hours to wait for the mails, Ave landed, and took the opportunity 
of going to see Cork. Before 5 p.m. we had weighed anchor, and 
had started for New York — a run of 2,885 miles from Queens- 
town to Sandy Hook at the mouth of New York Harbour — the 
i-ain meantime coming down in the most correct Irish style, until 
we lost sight of land. We did not have a particularly good or 
quick passage, for we experienced three days of heavy sea, and 
niostly head winds ; and two days of fog — during nearly the 
whole of which we had to run at half-speed — and the horrible 
noise of the fog-horn was incessantly heard. When this at last 
cleared off, the weather was most enjoyable ; and it was a grand 
sight to see our fine vessel being pushed along as fast as possible 
in order to make up for lost time. Each line of Atlantic steam- 
ers has its own separate course for both the outward and return 
journeys ; and during our passage we saw no vessels except two 
or thi'ee sailing ships, until nearing New York on the 19th 
May. That night there was rather a commotion on board, owing 
to another steamer having come unpleasantly near to us ; and it 
subsequently transpired that we had really only narrowly escaped 
a collision. 

On reaching New York Harboui', on the 20th, we were put 



6 

in quarantine to await inspection by the doctor ; and found 
ourselves in company with four or five other large ships, all full 
of emigrants. It is the duty of the medical officer who comes on 
board to see that all the emigrants are vaccinated ; and our 
doctor had performed this operation on about 100 of them during 
the passage out. On being released from quarantine we landed, 
and went at once to the Brevooi-t House Hotel, where we secured 
rooms. New York did not seem to have changed much since I 
saw it two years ago, except that the Brooklyn suspension 
bridge — then in course of construction — was finished, and was to 
be opened the following week with great ceremony by my friend, 
the Hon. Abram Hewitt, member of Congress for New York. I 
was very sorry that we could not wait to see this, but it was im- 
possible, and Mr. Hewitt could not even obtain permission for us 
to inspect it, all permits being refused. New York is now becom- 
ing so well known that it is unnecessary for me to say much about 
it. I consider the harbour to be one of the finest I have ever seen; 
I should fancy that this one, and that of San Francisco, are un- 
equalled in America. Broadway is the principal business street ; 
the Fifth Avenue is the fashionable quarter, and is remarkable 
for its handsome houses and numerous churches. The city is 
regularly built in blocks ; Broadway runs diagonally to the 
avenues, thus intersecting all the blocks. The Centi-al Park is 
extremely well laid out, and is quite worth a visit. To strangers, 
the elevated railway is one of the principal sights of New York ; 
it is carried on trestles right along the street ; the trains i*un on a 
level with the first-floor windows of the houses, which I should 
think must be very inconvenient for the owners, as one can see 
right into the rooms in passing along. There are very few hired 
carriages to be had in New York, and what there are are 
frightfully dear ; but street cars (or trams) run nearly every- 
where, both in New York and other American cities ; and, on 
account of their cheapness, are a great convenience to the 
residents. Some of the cars are closed like ours ; others are 
open, with cross seats, and are in summer very pleasant to travel 
in ; they all go at a good pace, and it is not at all a bad way of get- 
ting about when lionizing the various towns, for one can see a 
great deal by changing from oue car to another. I may here add 
a word about the river steamboats of America, of which the 
best are those plying near New Yoi-k. These are veritable 
floating palaces, accommodating about 1,000 passengers. The 
arrangements are generally as follows : — The deck projects over 
the hull so as to give more space in the vessel, and yet cause her 
to make as little resistance to the water as possible ; the goods 
and engines are usually on tlie lower deck ; and the upper one 
is an immense saloon, with sleeping berths all round. There are 
open spaces fore aud aft, to walk or sit about. On the steamers 
near New York the commissariat is good, but on most of the 
others it is very bad. 

Perhaps, before proceeding to a more detailed account of 



the various parts we visited, it may be as well to give here 
some general information on railway travelling. This I had 
always heard was good in America ; and so it is on some lines, 
or if you travel by a Pullman car — to secure the comfort of a 
seat in which it is well worth while to pay the extra fee de- 
manded. These cars are attached to most trains, but not to all ; 
and the ordinary cars are cramped, and often crowded; they 
hold about 60 people, and the seats all face the engine. Though 
they can be turned round, the conductor usually does not allow 
this to be done, for Americans never sit with their back to the 
engine. In hot weather all the windows are open, as are often 
the doors at each end besides, so that it is impossible to get out 
of the draught ; indeed, the windows are so made that they only 
put up half-way, and the wooden frame of the glass interferes 
sadly with the view. On these occasions the dust and engine 
blacks blow in in clouds, and, as the blacks are almost small coals, 
the extreme unpleasantness can hardly be described. There are 
no classes in American railways, so you cannot choose your 
company, and may have either a New York senator or a nigger 
for your nearest fellow-passenger. But, although no classes are 
recognised, a new system is creeping in, of having slower trains, 
called emigrant trains ; and in these the fares are at a reduced 
rate, thus amounting to second-class trains. Each car or number 
of cars has a conductor and porter ; each separate Pullman has 
both officials. Those in the Southei'n States are very civil, but 
in the Northern, and some of the Western ones, they are exceed- 
ingly rough. Being, apparently, great men in their own esti- 
mation, they make use of the carriage to sit in themselves, 
and, judging by their manner, they view the passengers as 
receiving a favour in being allowed to ride there at all. They 
invariably bang the doors with a louder crash than anyone else 
on entering or leaving the car. This perpetual door-banging is 
one of the greatest nuisances in American i-ailway travelling. 
Whether it be passengers, conductor, poi'ter, or newspaper-man 
(who takes it in turns to come round with books, 
papers, fruit, and cigars), all bang the doors as hard as they 
can (apparently) in passing backwards and foi'wards. It is really 
difficult to explain the want of quiet experienced in American 
travelling ; the motion of the cars is noisy and uncomfortable, 
and, added to this and the perpetual door-banging, there is -the 
hoarse whistle of the engine, and the almost incessant tolling of 
its bell ; for few of the railways are thoroughly fenced in, and, 
in many cases, the train i-uns through the open streets of the 
towns, sounding the bell, of course, all the time. In the Pullman 
cars you are allotted a comfortable sleeper if on a long journey, 
or an arm-chair if it is only a drawing-room car. The porter 
(whether in the Pullman or the ordinary car) is generally a 
nigger, and his business is to look after the car, and not after 
you ; so much so that any help from him is quite exceptional, 
and many a time have I had a great struggle to get up or down 



8 

at the end of the cars, overweighted by my luggage ; the porter 
meanwhile looking on, and never thinking of coming to the 
rescue. There are only two doors to each car (forward and aft), 
and to get in or out takes a considerable time, for the last step 
is some distance from the ground. The trains almost always 
start off without warning, either by bell or word of mouth, and 
this increases the inconvenience of there being so few ways of 
entrance and exit ; for people will stand on the platform, and 
there is always a scrimmage to regain one's place when the 
train moves off. There are no regular station porters, 
so you must look after your own luggage, for no one will give 
you the slightest assistance ; unless you send it to the luggage- 
room some time (often an hour) before your train is to start, and 
have it checked to youi" destination. I suppose this is a 
good plan if one is travelling with a large amount of 
luggage ; yet if one adopts it, there is occasionally an 
inconvenient delay in the delivery of one's things. The 
arrangements for smoking are very bad ; sometimes there is 
no accommodation excepting on the platform outside ; but as a 
rule there is one car (thoug'h an uncomfortable one), in which 
it is allowed, but in this the dirt is usually sufficient to deter 
one from entering*. In the Pullman cars, however, there is 
generally a little room attached, A night journey in an 
ordinary car must be simple torture, but most trains running 
any distance carry a Pullman "sleeper." These make up 
twenty-four berths in two tiers, of which the lower berths are 
preferable, as the upper ones are liable to get covered with the 
coal-blacks and dust penetrating through the top ventilators. 
Some trains carry dining-room cars, which are a great conve- 
nience — for in the matter of wayside refreshments I think 
America is nearly as far behind the continent as we are our- 
selves. The permanent way of the railroads is in some places 
still Tery rough ; but in the Eastern States this is now 
improving with the increase of traffic. 

After making various arrangements, and seeing several 
New York friends, we started on the evening of the 22nd of 
May by the Pennsylvania route from New Yoi-k to Denver, and 
found this line a well-managed one, and our Pullman "sleepers" 
comfortable enough. The next day we traversed some very 
pretty scenery in the Alleghany Mountains, after which we 
passed on oiit of Pennsylvania State, through those of Ohio, 
Indiana, and Illinois, till we reached St. Louis, on the bordei'S 
of Missouri ; a distance of 1,064 miles from new York, which 
took us about forty-six hours to perform. The States of Ohio 
and Pennsylvania both contain mostly undulating, well- wooded 
lands. We thought the soil of Illinois State (especially as we 
neared St. Louis) better for agricultural purposes than any we 
had previously seen. At the St. Louis Station we were met by 
my friend Mr. Wainwright, Avho took us (after breakfasting 
with him) to inspect his lager beei' brewery, which we found 



very interesting. He showed us through immense cellars, 
where the beer was kept almost iced — for lager beer will not 
keep as our English beer does, and must be stored in a cool 
temperature, which is a difficult thing to manage in a place like 
St. Louis, well known to be one of the hottest in this district 
We tasted some of the beer, which was excellent. A tap is 
always kept going for the workmen, of which they avail them- 
selves pretty freely. We went afterwards to the Corn Exchange 
to see the brokers gambling in corn. I saw one two years ago 
in Chicago, and this is managed on the same plan ; a hollow is 
made in the middle of the floor, so that all the parties engaged 
can see one another. We were shown some capital Californian 
barley, and some beautiful white Indian corn. 

We left St. Louis by 8.30 p.m. train for Denver, and 
changed trains next morning at Kansas City, which seemed a 
busy place. The station was full of emigrants, and everything 
about the district gave signs of life and activity. Outside the 
city people were camping out in tents. The country round was 
much wooded, the soil mostly of a dark loamy colour, though 
poor in places, it was, apparently, generally very fertile, and the 
crops seemed more forward than further east. Kansas City is 
on the Missouri river, and I am told that lands more than 100 
miles to the west of that river are farmed at a great risk, as a 
drought may at anytime destroy all the crops. The wheatfields 
of Kansas State were all in ear, the seed having been sown last 
September ; the heads of the corn were very even throughout, 
but the straw short. The railroad is not fenced in, and where a 
road crosses the line, a post is erected with cross boai'ds, marked 
" railway crossing," in order to warn the people passing by. On 
ruost other lines by which I have travelled in America, the engine 
driver sounds a whistle, or rings a bell at all the crossings, but 
here this is not done. " Look out for the cars " is another 
warning. The houses of the settlers here were mostly built of 
wood, though a few were of stone. When standing alone, a few 
trees were always planted round to afford shelter. Here and 
there was an attempt at fencing in, but the lands were generally 
unenclosed. 

As we went further west, the country became more and 
more open, and cattle ranches took the place of arable land ; in 
fact, it was really open and undulating prairie. The next 
morning our journey was very monotonous, being entirely over 
the open prairie, through bad and burnt up land ; and the 
only excitement was when our train startled and scattered a 
herd of antelopes which were grazing near the track. We 
watched the chain of the Rocky Mountains gradually rising in 
the far distance, but were a little disappointed with this view of 
them, owing, probably, to the fact that the plateau we were 
traversing was in itself some 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea ; 
and, though the mountains rise straight up from the plain, the 
prairie being at so gx^eat an elevation necessarily takes off from 



10 

their real height. The atraosphere here was very clear, and, on 
leaving the train at Denver (which we reached at 8.15 a.m.) the 
air shnick us as remarkably light and bracing. Denver is 
situated quite on the open prairie, 5,314 feet above the sea, but 
it has a lively look and seemed a very go-ahead place. It is 
distant 933 miles from St. Loiiis, or 1,997 miles in all from ]S"ew 
York — a journey which it had taken us two .days and four 
nights of continuous travelling to accomplish ; exclusive, of 
course, of one stoppage of a day at St. Louis. We purposely 
travelled as fast as possible over this pai-t of our route, as we 
were all anxious to get at once to the Far West, and to spend 
there the time at our disposal ; — besides this side of the States 
was not new to me. 



ARTICLE II. 

MANITOU — SALT LAKE CITY — OGDEN AVEST TO SAN FRANCISCO. 

Of the railway journey between Denver and Utah, a distance 
of 745 miles, and again from t}iei*e to California, 871 miles, total 
1,616 miles ; I do not here propose to say much, as I wish to 
reserve the greater part of this article for a short account of 
Salt Lake City and San Fi-ancisco, with their inhabitants. With 
some few exceptions, as, for instance, the lovely scenery round 
Manitou ; the grand, though desolate, Royal Gorge of Arkansas, 
the beauties of Marshall's Pass, and, still more, of the Black 
Canon ; the country through which we passed until we reached 
the Pacific slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, was mostly 
dried-up prairie and sandy desert, and only available for agricul- 
tural purposes after much labour and extensive irrigation, such 
as have been bestowed on it in the Mormon territory, where the 
desert has certainly been converted into a garden. Until the 
richer lands of other parts of America are filled up, I should 
recommend the intending emigTant to choose one of them as his 
future home, rather than to attempt to start in this country. 
Colorado is rich in minerals ; but those who meddle with mining 
speculations had better take care not toburn their fingers. 

From Denver we went by Colorado Springs to Manitou. 
The latter place is very prettily situated among the lower spurs 
of the Rocky Mountains, at an elevation of about 6,124 feet above 
thesea,andisbecomingrather a fashionable American resort. The 
air is very pure and good, and the climate excessively dry, and 
suitable for consumptive and rheumatic patients. A friend of 
mine who came here for his health has derived so much benefit 
from his stay that he told me he should always remain, for 
it was the only place where he had been really well. I should 
think that in time it must develop into a well-known sanatorium. 
The scenery here is beautiful, especially in the " Pares," as 
some of the high valleys up in the mountains are called ; they 
are used as hay-fields or cattle ranches; but unless they possess 
a stream of water, they are perfectly useless for the latter pur- 
pose. 

The country between Colorado Springs and Manitou — and, 
again, as we continued our journey — looked utterly desolate, 
everything being completely dried or burnt up. This was still 
the case in the neighbourhood of Pueblo, which is situated on the 
Arkansas River, a.nd gave me the impression of being like a 
Spanish or a Mexican town. It was quite different from the 
other American cities I have seen. The inhabitants appeared 
very rough and lawless ; there were a great many squatters and 
people camping out round the town, but I am told that its 
population is decreasing. A magnificent cotton- tree, growing in 



12 

one of the principal tliorouglifares, was being cut down, much to 
my horror, for it seemed a great shame to remove such a fine 
tree ; and, apparently, some (at least) of the Pueblo citizens 
thought the same ; for, the next day I noticed a newspaper 
article expostulating against its fall, and placing the news in the 
obituary column. 

We proceeded by rail to Salt Lake City, crossing the Rocky 
Mountains, and passing- through some very grand, though 
desolate, scenery in the Royal Glorge of Arkansas, and in Mar- 
shall's Pass. The latter is the highest railway-pass in America, the 
summit being about 10,500 feet above the sea ; the gradients are 
very steep, and the curves sharp ; the route winds round and 
round, and doubles over and over, in order to reach the top. 
During the ascent a coupling broke between our car and the one 
next behind ; we were standing on the platform at the time, and 
I heard it go with a bang, which was quickly followed by a whiz 
and snap of the signal-cord overhead ; thanks to the atmospheric 
break, however, the car was stopped from running down-hill. 
Our progress was rather delayed by an excursion train in front 
of us, which was taking a party of about 600 people from St. 
Louis to San Francisco. Their engine came to a standstill now 
and then ; and ours broke down also, not only once, but three 
times. The last stoppage was in a snow-shed within a few hundred 
yards of the summit, which we reached two hours late. Descend- 
ing on the other side, we passed through a more fertile- 
looking country than we had seen for some time, and, at a place 
called Gunnistone City, came again some lovely scenery. Later 
on we were agreeably surprised at entering a gorge called the 
Black Cafion, which I consider the finest I have ever seen ; its 
length must be 20 or 30 miles ; the rocks assume every variety 
of fantastic form and colouring, and trees grow luxuriantly 
everywhere, the latter being a most welcome change after the 
desolate bareness of the country through which we had previously 
passed. A bridge had broken down on this line a few days 
previously, when an engine-driver and two other men were killed. 
This accident accounted for the engines here being in mourning, 
decked with black and white ribbons. We crossed the broken 
bridge very slowly, but safely, about midnight. 

The following morning we woke to find that we had left the 
Rocky Mountains behind us, and were travelling over a regular 
desert, where even the sage-bush could hardly grow. There 
was not a sign of a drop of water anywhere, except in the huge 
tanks kept at stated intervals for the use of the engines. I do 
not know whether any rain ever falls in this district ; we cer- 
tainly passed over many beds of dried up rivers, and once, in 
crossing the Green river, saw, for the moment, a little vegetation 
on its banks. The country had on all sides the appearance of 
having been the basin of a huge lake, and I decidedly could not 
conscientiously recommend this locality to an emigrant as a 
promising field for labour. 



13 

At last we arrived at Provo, about 46 miles from Salt Lake 
City, and near Utah Lake. It was the first Mormon settlement 
we had noticed, and gave signs of great industry ; the cultivation 
being very good, with nice orchards dotted about. Irrigation 
certainly works wonders ; for, thirty years ago, the whole of this 
territory was as completely a desert as that which we had just 
seen, of which we wearied so much. The view from Provo 
looking towards Utah Lake is exceedingly pretty. The lake 
itself (unlike its neighbour, Salt Lake) is fresh water. It is 
surrounded by fine mountains, some of which are snow-covered. 

We reached Salt Lake City two hours late, and, after 
securing' rooms at the Walker House Hotel, took a stroll round 
the city, where we found some races had been taking place, and 
that there were in consequence a good many roughs about. We 
watched all the passers-by, and speculated whether they were all 
Mormons ; and when we saw one man accompanied by two 
women, and another by four, we immediately dubbed them as 
Mormon families out for an airing. It is easy to see which 
houses are inhabited by Mormons, for they always have a separate 
door for each lady. Ascending a hill we had a very good general 
view of the city ; it reminded us of an Italian town ; avenues of 
shade trees are planted along the principal thoroughfares, and 
the streets, which are dreadfully dusty, are too broad ; each 
has a stream of water (brought from the hills) running 
down a narrow channel on one side. During our walk we came 
upon a party of Indians with their squaws and children ; they 
were playing cards, and I was told are great gamblers ; but 
they appeared very peaceable ; and did not at all mind our 
looking on. Their skins were very dark, mahogany colour ; their 
hair straight, long, and black ; they were gaily dressed in bright 
coloured clothing, but did not adorn themselves with painting 
their faces, as the Indians of the J^orth-West Territory do — 
aboutwhomi shall have more to say hereafter. These were the first 
Indians we had seen, but as we travelled further west, some 
were usually to be noticed at nearly every station we passed. 

We went to inspect the Mormon Tabernacle, which is a 
wooden erection, constructed to hold 12,000 people, and wonder- 
fully built for sound. Standing at the further end we could 
hear a man speaking in a low whisper, and even distinguish 
what he said ; and the sound of a pin dropping or a brusli 
brushing a coat, is also distinctly audible. The seats are placed 
on an ascending scale, and are all of wood with backs. The 
building is not ornamental, but is simply intended to accommo- 
date a large number of people, so that all can see and hear; 
which object is successfully attained. This Tabernacle is only 
used during the summer months ; the Winter Tabernacle is of 
much smaller dimensions, and is built of stone and thoroughly 
warmed. The New Temple is a fine square block of building, 
now in course of construction. It is being entirely built of the 
finest grey granite. The work has periodically to be stopped till 



14 

more funds come iu, and it will, I should think, take many years 
to complete, even if ever finished. The site has been very 
judiciously chosen, both for effect, and convenience to the 
citizens. 

We next called upon President John Taylor (who succeeded 
Brigham Young), having been told that he liked seeing strangers. 
We were, however, informed that he was out driving, and were 
asked to call again. In order to occupy our time we went to see 
the late President's grave, and in doing so, passed the house 
where he used to accommodate his 18 wives. The grave, which we 
found in a place by itself, was merely a slab of granite with no 
name or inscription, surrounded by iron railings. On returning- 
we again called on President Taylor, and in due course he came 
into the room to receive us. He did not look as if he had been 
out driving, and we were inclined to think that this had been a 
fiction on the part of the attendant. He was a tall, largely-made 
man, with big head and hands. I believe there are six Mrs. 
Taylors, and we were rather disappointed at not being introduced 
to them. The house was a good-sized one, and everything 
looked very comfortable. The President told us that the 
Mormon territory was about 600 miles long by 300 broad, and 
now extended into IS'ew Mexico and Arizona. The original 
settlers have, in most cases, moved south into Arizona, where, at 
a greater distance from civilization, they can better enjoy a 
plurality of ^^^ves without restrictions. Salt Lake City is, of 
course, the centre of the Grovernment, The settlements are by 
no means diminishing, but, on the contrary, increasing; and more 
and more of the territory is, by dint of irrigation, being rapidly 
brought under cultivation. 

After our interview with the President, we visited the 
Museum, which is kept by an Englishman (a Mormon), who 
came here in 1864. He told us he had then been one of a party 
of 800 emigrants ; and that for the last 1,000 miles they had 
travelled over the prairie and desert in ox-carts and waggons, 
and had suffered terrible privations. Numbers of his fellow- 
travellers had died on the way; and, though so many years 
a.o-o, he related, with an evidently keen recollection, the hard- 
ships they had undergone, and the joy and thankfulness with 
which they had at last sighted Salt Lake City, and its well-culti- 
vated lands. On their arrival they had been kindly cared for 
and housed by the settlers, until they were able to shift for 
themselves. We also heard from this man how the Mormons 
send out their missionaries all over the world to make fresh 
converts and induce them to come to the Mormon territory. It 
must not, however, be supposed that all the settlers in Utah are 
of the Mormon persuasion, for there are a great many so-called 
" Gentiles " among them. Salt Lake City is beautifully situated 
at the foot of mountains, which surround it in a kind of semi- 
cii-cle. Everything looks prosperous ; the lands are well- 
stocked and irrigated, and thoroughly cultivated to the best 



15 

advantage, but I think this system of Mormonism should be 
abolished, indeed, it is a disgrace to a civilized country like the 
United States that it should be allowed. A law has, in fact, 
been passed, suppressing it ; but when an attempt was made to 
pat it in force, it was found that no verdict could be obtained, 
owing to the majority of the jury being themselves Mormons. It 
is often thought that each member of this persuasion may have 
as many wives as he pleases ; but this is not the case ; it is 
only allowed as a great favour, and each candidate for the 
privilege has to prove, to the satisfaction of the Elders, that his 
means are sufficient to support the number of wives he wishes to 
have. 

We left Salt Lake City by the 4 p.m. train on the 31st May 
for Ogden ; thence by the Central Pacific Railway to San 
Francisco. After leaving Ogden the country became poor, and 
the sage bush was again almost the sole occupant of the sandy 
soil . There was a civil darkie in our car, who told us that on the 
following day we should see nothing but sand and desert, and that 
both the windows and ventilators would have to be closed. This 
prospect was not cheerful ; but the result, happily, did not justify 
our fears, for, though the next day we travelled on through the 
same country of sand and sage bushes, we experienced no dust, 
but enjoyed a beautiful cool brcize. The promised desert was 
certainly there, but a heavy fall of i-ain on the previous day had 
laid the dust ; in fact, pools of water were to be seen all along the 
track. This is most unusual at this time of the year ; but it was 
a very fortunate circumstance, for otherwise we should doubtless 
have been overwhelmed with the dust and heat ; so we willingly 
forgave the darkie his false alarm. There wei^e mountains in the 
distance along the whole route, which looked as if they ought to 
carry sheep ; but pi'obably by the end of summer every blade of 
grass will be burnt up. It was only here and there that we saw 
a patch of cultivated land. 

The following notice was written on the backs of our tickets : — 
" Passengers are allowed to carry one canary each in a cage, 
without extra charge or fee to the baggage man or poi-ter." In our 
car the following notice was posted up : — " Warning — Passengers 
are hereby warned against playing games of chance with strangers, 
or betting on three cards, monte, strap, or other games. You will 
surely be robbed if you do. — A. M, Towne, General >Superintend- 
ent." Here is another specimen, also put up in the cars . — 
" Passengers are requested not to spit on the floor of the cars." 
A line of spittoons was arranged along the floor, one for every two 
passengers. 

Just at dusk we began the ascent of the Sierra Nevadas, but 
of the scenery here it was impossible to see much that evening, 
and, as we often passed through very long snowsheds, perhaps 
there would not have been much to look at even in the day-time. 
Our darkie, by my orders, awoke me at 3.45 a.m., when we were 



16 

just passing Cape Horn, round wliicli point, liigli up on ttie moun- 
tains, the track is laid. Ten truck-loads of cattle fell over this 
point last fall (i.e., autumn). Beautiful views wei'e obtained in 
descending the Pacific slope of the Sierra Nevadas. The whole 
country seemed like an immense park or arboretum ; all kinds 
of firs and pines, such as we grow as ornamental trees, were 
here flourishing li;xuriantly in a wild state. Presently we passed 
through a fine agricultural country, where the corn crops appeared 
to be already fit for cutting, and in some cases the harvest had 
actually commenced. I found out afterwards that it generally is 
begun before this period, but that this had been a wet and back- 
ward season, visible evidence of which was afforded us by the 
swollen state of the rivers through late i-ains. 

On reaching jBenicia (the place where the " Benicia Boy,'' 
Heenan, came from, who fought Sayers some years ago in England), 
we crossed an arm of the bay in a huge ferry-boat, 510ft, long by 
120ft. broad, which took our train, engine and all, over in two 
sections. We then proceeded along the other side of the bay vmtil 
we arrived at Oaklands, where we left the train, and, after ten 
minutes on another enormous ferry-boat found ourselves in San 
Francisco. 

The city looks well from this approach ; the hai'bour is a 
magnificent one, over 40 miles long, and is surrounded on all sides 
by grass hills. San Francisco stands partly at their base, and 
partly on one of the hills. These latter look all parched or burnt 
up, and thei'e are no trees or green of any description to be seen. 
We engaged rooms at the Palace Hotel, and then went out to leave 
our letters of introduction, and to make inquiries as to our future 
route. In the course of our rambles we had occasion to use one of 
the Frisco street-cars on endless ropes. These are quite a feature 
of the place. They are admirably constructed for going up and 
down hill, and their motion is very quiet and agreeable. The plan 
seems a simple one : two cars are joined together, and are attached 
to a perpetually-revolving wire-rope (placed in an open groove 
underground, and worked by a fixed steam-engine), by the simple 
process of moving a lever which grips the wire, and thus the cars 
are carried on until the conductor releases his hold. 

On returning to the business jjart of the city, we accidentally 
came upon the Chinese qiiarter, which is entirely inhabited by 
subjects of the Celestial empire. We saw great numbers of them, 
but found it impossible to tell the difference between the men and 
the women in dress ; possibly because (as we were told afterwards) 
they wei'e almost all men, At almost every other window we saw 
individuals having their pig-tails dressed and their ears cleaned (!) 
— apparently a very fiivourite amusement of theirs. We bought a 
few curiosities at one of their shops, and looked into their theatre, 
where we promised the door-keeper we would return later in the 
evening. Accordingly, after supper, we set out to see the per- 
foi'mance ; it is, certainly, worth witnessing once, but once 



17 

■would be quite enough, as (for a European, at any rate,) it is Iiard 
to keep up the interest. The dresses of the performers were very- 
gorgeous, and the features of the men were partly hidden by long 
beards unmistakeably stuck on their lower lips. There were hardly 
any Europeans or Americans among the audience, but the building 
was filled with Chinese, (the ladies being accommodated by them- 
selves in a gallery,) and they all seemed to appreciate the perform- 
ance very much. Subsequently, an offer was made by one of the 
employes of the theatre to show us some of the opium dens and 
other slums of this quarter. Had we done this we should, of 
course, have been accompanied by a policeman ; but we declined 
the proposal, thinking such sights Avere better imagined than 
seen. 

On the afternoon of the next day we made an expedition to 
Cliff House, about six miles fr.>m San Francisco, doing the distance 
partly by car and partly by carriage. To show the difiiculty that 
there is in gaining any accurate information, I may mention that 
we were told we could not have a carriage to take us under £2, 
whei'eas the actual outing was accomplished in the end for about 
Is 6d each. Cliff House is an hotel situated facing the Pacific 
Ocean. The interest there is centred on two or three rocks, about 
a quarter of a mile off, out at sea ; on and about which rocks we 
saw scores of seals disporting themselves. They are protected by 
the United States Government and not allowed to be killed. There 
must have been between two and three hundred of them ; and we 
were much amused at seeing them crawling about the rocks, and 
taking headers into the water, and at hearing their bai'k in the 
distance. From the signal station we had a good view of the 
" Golden Gate," as the entrance into San Francisco Bay is called ; 
after duly admiring it, we walked across the sandhills, and, 
rejoining our carriage, returned to the city. 

The impression left on my mind by San Francisco, is that it 
is a great and fiourishing city one of the best I have seen in 
America ; but I think it has i-eached the height of its prosperity. 
While it was the port of embarkation on the Pacific, with railway 
communication to Chicago, New York, and the East, it enjoyed a 
monopoly. This advantage must now, however, cease ; for the 
Pacific ports of the Northern Pacific Railroad, of the Southern 
Pacific Railroad, and eventually of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, 
will all compete with San Francisco for trans-continental traffic. 
Two of these lines are already completed, and the third will also 
be finished in the course of a few yeai's. It is true that as the 
coiintry fills up, traffic will increase ; but for the ocean trade to 
China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, the ports of the new 
railways (at any rate those to the North) will shortly, if I am 
not very much mistaken, share with San Francisco a privilege 
that has hitherto been her's alone. 



ARTICLE III. 

THE YOSEMITE VALLEY, CALIFORNIA. 

On the afternoon of Monday, June 4th, we left San Francisco for 
the Yosemite Valley, having previously accepted an offer from a 
Dr. Gwinn (a gentleman residing at San Francisco, to whom we 
had an introduction from Colonel Arbuthnot), to join us after our 
visit there, and take us to Los Angeles and its neighbourhood, in 
order that we might see the vineyards and orange groves of south- 
ern California. It was difficult to obtain information as to the best 
route for reaching the Yosemite ; the result of our experience was, 
that anyone who has time to manage it, should go from San 
Francisco via Stockton to Milton ; thence by stage to Murphys, 
on to the Calaveras Grove and back to Milton ; then by stage 
again to the Yosemite ; and should return by the route we took, 
making an expedition from Clarke's to the Mariposa Grove as we 
did, and, after sleeping at Madera, take the rail back to San 
Francisco the following morning. This plan would take a longer 
time and entail more staging, but there would be the advantage of 
entering and leaving the Yosemite Yalley by different routes. 

We travelled by the Central Pacific Railway to Madera, going 
over to Oaklands by the ferry. We had thought that our railway 
tickets included sleepers on the car, but this we found to be a 
mistake ; and the sleeper being full, except for one or two of the 
upper berths, which we wished to avoid, and the conductor and 
Darkie, both proving uncivil, we decided instead on sleeping at 
Madera (where we were timed to arrive at midnight). In conse- 
quence of our decision, the conductor took his revenge by telling 
xis to get into the other coach ; so we turned out of the Silver 
sleeper and went into the ordinary car, where we made ourselves 
fairly comfortable, and, after a tedious journey, arrived at Madei-a 
at 11.50 p.m. It was a good thing we had telegi-aphed on for 
rooms, for there was rather a crowd ; but the landlord was very 
civil, and insisted on serving us first ; and, as it was a very hot 
night, we congratulated ourselves on being in the hotel, rather than 
in the hot sleeper, now quietly shunted on a siding for the 
night. 

We found the next moi-ning that a great many people were 
bound for the Yosemite (36 passengers in all) ; an extra coach was 
put on, but, all the same, some uufoi-tunate travellers, who came 
by the Southern route, were left behind at Madera, having to stay 
there 24 hours, waiting for the next day's coach. We set off by 
the second coach at 7 a.m., after going through the farce of waiting 
for the arrival of the Southern train, simply to tell the passengers 



19 

that the coach was full. These coaches are the property of the 
" Yosemite Turnpike Eoacl Compauy," whose business seems badly 
managed, and I am. told that the Company pays no dividend. The 
vehicles are curious-looking things, painted red ; the body is like 
the tvib of a boat with no bows, and is slung on leather straps for 
springs — and with good reason, for no other method could with- 
stand the effects of the fearful jolting of these rough roads — they 
cai'ry eleven passengers, the driver's seat holding two besides 
himself. The coachmen are excellent whips, and handle their team 
of four, or sometimes six horses, with wonderful ease. The roads are 
extremely rough, the bumping atrocioxis, and more thoroughly 
appreciable by experience than by description. 

Tlie first and second stages of our journey were uninteresting 
hot, and dusty, being over prairie and at the bottom of the foot 
hills ; we then gradually ascended, and, after lunch, came across 
the first fine scenery of our drive during the descent to Fresno 
Flats, where we obtained a magnificent view of forest and moun- 
tain. From here the route gradually re-ascended, passing the 
whole way through beautiful natural forests of the finest timber, 
growing here to an immense height. Traces of forest fires were 
everywhere noticeable, caused in former times by the Indians, who 
used to burn the underwood ; the lai'ger trees are, therefore, in 
many cases thus accidentally injured by fire at their base. We saw- 
some magnificent specimens of Ponderosa (pitch-pine), Lambertiana 
(sugar-pine), Thuja Gigantea, and other pines ; also of Balsam, 
Californian, and Evergreen Oaks, which grow beautifully here, and 
in the district on the other side of Fresno Flats ; there are, besides, 
many varieties of evei'green and flowering shrubs, esj^ecially the 
]\Janzonita plant, which is very similar to our arbutus ; flowers are 
also to be seen in every direction, the most remarkable being the 
Leather-plant, and the Buck-eye. Some of the Ponderosa and 
Lambertiana run np to 200 or 300 feet in height ; we measured 
one 26 feet in circumference, and this was by no means of 
exceptional size. A walk through this magnificent forest would 
have been most delightful, — though our drive was very enjoyable, 
notwithstanding the drawback of having to be constantly on the 
look-out for the horrible bumping. Our driver handled his six 
horses in fine style, and we went along at a great pace, soon 
catching up the coach next before us : but, all the same, we were 
an hour and a half late in reaching Clarke's Hotel, our sleeping 
quarters for the night. It was hex-e that we fii'st found out that 
by coming this route we were obliged to abandon all idea of seeing 
the Calaveras Grove, and must miss the Stockton route altogether. 
Of course, we did not arrive at this conclusion without much 
discussion and argument ; but there was really no help for it, for 
the hotel and stage had the entire monopoly, and we could procure 
no other horses. The next day, therefore, we set ofi^ at 6.30 a.m., 
for more jolting and l)umping on the coach ; this time under the 
care of a nigger coachman, who drove well, but could not take us 



20 

as fast as we had gone on the previous day, for the road was much 
worse, being very narrow and bad, and carried mostly at a high 
elevation along the side of the mountains. Tlie latter were all 
densely timbered, and the gigantic proportions of the pines and 
fir were much the same as those we had previously seen. 

When we arrived at " Inspiration Point," seven miles from 
our destination, we left the coach and proceeded leisurely on foot. 
From here the first glimpse of the Yosemite Valley is obtained. 
The view was one never to be forgotten. Here we actually were 
at last, after years of talk, and after a journey of between 6,000 
and 7,000 miles. It was a gloi'ious sight ; the bright green valley 
far below us, the trees looking quite small on account of the dis- 
tance, the river Merced flowing along the centre ; huge granite 
mountains running straight down on each side, 3,000 to 4,000, or 
even 5.000, feet — El Capitan being the most noticeable on the left 
from this point, and the Cathedral Rocks on the right. The Sentinel 
Dome was further off, and the Half Dome, Dome, and Cloud's 
Rest weie in the sreater distance. It was a magnificent sio-ht. 
The granite walls could hardly hold a tree, and, though the immense 
masses of rock at fii'st looked bare, the effect was relieveil as the 
eye rested on the green of the valley below. The valley itself is 
4,000 feet above the sea. We had a beautiful walk from Inspii-a- 
tion Point to Cooke's Hotel. During the first part of the descent 
we saw the " Bridal Veil " waterfall on our right, coming tumb- 
ling down in a huge mass ; on our left was the " Virgin's Tears," 
which was mere spray by the time it touched the valley. After 
passing these, the Yosemite Fall itself (1,G00 feet high) came into 
view, and befoi'e reaching it we arrived at the hotel. The whole 
of the valley is thickly planted with (specimen) Conifers, beau- 
tiful Ponderosa, Lambertiana, Thuja Gigantea, Balsam, &c., &c. 
There are also some very tine Douglas tii"s. We came upon the 
first of the latter after leaving Inspiration Point. 

We reached Cooke's Hotel about 3.30 p.m., and settled to do 
nothing more that afternoon, but only to look at the Yosemite 
Fall, and the other beauties of the valley, which seemed to impress 
one more the more one looked at them. We found the atmosphere 
rather warm, and there were a good many moscpiitoes about ; but 
later in the year these troubles would, I should fancy, be far 
worse. Apparently, we had come at the exact time for seeing the 
waterfalls to perfection, especially as the season was rather a 
late one ; in an ordinary season, the second, or even the first, 
week in May is said to be better ; the flowers would certainly be 
more in bloom at that time, but still we saw a great many. 

The next day we were up at 4.45 a,m., and, after breakfast, 
walked to the Mirror Lake to see the reflection on its surface of 
the mountain opposite (the Half Dome, I think) when the sun 
appeared over its summit. There was too much ripple on the 
lake, and we were rather disappointed in the result, and I said 
as much on being asked by an American what I thought of it. 



21 

He replied " that it was the case with many." One American, 
when here, said it was nothing better than "a d d toad- 
pond." However, I cannot quite agree in this. The lake is 
small but pretty ; and the immense gi^anite mountain coming 
sheer down in a precipice of 5,000 feet is a sight in itself. The 
walk from the hotel along the flat was very pretty, by the side 
of the Merced River. Beautiful conifers grew in every direction 
— the specimens were magnificent. One remarkable thing about 
the Yosemite valley is, that all the trees seem to have room to 
grow, and it really forms one huge arboretum. Weeks 
could be spent in walking about examining the trees, and making 
occasional excursions into the mountains ; but to do this properly 
one ought to have plenty of time, and to camp out. 

The Mirror Lake is distant about three miles from Cooke's 
Hotel, and we continued our walk about another five miles to 
the Nevada Falls, the route being first along the valley on a good 
road, and then up a bridle path, which plunged into the forest 
all among loose boulders, still following the river, until we 
reached a trail which took us zig-zag up the mountain side. 
Enormous granite cliffs looked down on us on all sides, the valley 
was well timbered, and tbe scenery lovely in the extreme. A 
long pull up the zig-zag path took us to an upper valley, where 
we rejoined the river, and saw the Vernal Fall, — a beautiful 
waterfall, dashing down into a deep, dark gorge. We had a 
very fine -view of it, but could not get under it, on account of the 
spray. 

A mile above this we approached the Nevada Falls, which is 
quite different, not so broad, but much higher. Three-quarters 
of the way down it strikes on an invisible projecting rock, which 
sends the water up again for some little distance, only to descend 
a second time in an immense jumble of water and spray. I have 
never before seen a waterfall similar to this, and it and the 
Vernal Fall are both well worth a visit, the more so on 
account of the beautiful scenery through which they are 
approached. There is a good inn at the Nevada Falls, 
where sleeping accommodation can be procured. A view is 
obtained from here of Glacier Point (apparently an immense 
height) in the distance, on the summit of which there is also 
an inn, where a bed can be had. Just behind the little 
hotel at Nevada Falls rises the " Cap of Liberty ;" from 
here the ascent of " Cloud's Rest " is made, half-way up 
which, I am told, there is a small inn. We returned to Cooke's 
Hotel by the same route, as far as the junction of the road to the 
Mirror Lake, thence following the regular road. It was a 
charming" excursion and we all enjoyed it immensely. 

The next day we set off on foot for Glacier Point at 6.15 
a.m., hoping thus to accomplish the climb in the cool of the morn- 
ing. The ascent commenced almost immediately, just behind 
the church. The track was a good one, all amongst shrubs and 
trees, with no boulders, but sandy and very steep. The high 



22 

mountain we were ascending sheltered tis from the sixn. The 
path went tip in zig-zags, and, at each turn, we had most lovelj 
views of the valley beneath ;— first of all in the direction of 
Inspiration Point, and, further up, towards Mirror Lake. The 
higher we ascended the more beautiful the valley looked, with 
the Merced River flowing along the centre, pine trees of immense 
size and grandeur, each standing out separately as if purposely 
thinned out, or like specimens in an arboretum ; and the little 
fields by the side of the river forming patches of green, which 
relieved the eye after gazing at the desolation of rock above. 
After a steep climb of an hour and a half we came to a little 
flagstaff, where we halted for a short rest, and meanwhile 
admired the view, which was really a charming one. The pines 
appeared to grow out of the solid rock, each ti-ee, whether young 
or old, being of wonderful growth and vigour, but not of such 
enormous size as those we had seen on our drive from Madera to 
Clarke's and the Yosemite. On leaving our flagstalf rest we 
continued our ascent, but now out in the open, among mountain 
plants, with no shelter either from rocks or trees. We still 
enjoyed the same beautiful views of the valley beneath us, but 
at this elevation we could see over the tops of the cliffs which 
formed its sides, and found that round-headed mountains consti- 
tuted the general character of the Sierra N"evada range, and 
that the peaks, which we had seen from below, were only 
variations here and there. At a distance of three- quartei's of a 
mile from Grlacier Point we again entered the forest, and saw 
some more magnificent specimens of the fir tribe — Douglas, 
Lambertiana, Lasciocarpa, Ponderosa, &c., &c 

On reaching Glacier Point (a hut built on the edge of a 
precipice some 3,000 feet deep) Ave had a splendid view of the 
Sierra Nevadas, and also up the Little Yosemite Valley; having 
now turned our backs on the Yosemite Valley itself. Before lis 
lay an enormous section of the mountain range, with the Vernal 
Fall right in front of us, and the Nevada Falls (which we had 
visited the previous day), higher up on the same river. There 
was hardly a blade of grass to be seen ; but all was one immense 
mass of gi-anite mountain and valley, with fir trees distributed 
in forests and groups here and there. The timber did not look 
very fine, but then it was some distance off; and, besides, as its 
foothold appeared to be nothing but rock, this was, perhaps, not 
surprising. The view was so entirely different from what we 
had left behind, when we turned from the Yosemite, that the 
contrast was very remarkable. 

It took us two hours and fifty minutes to reach Grlacier 
Point from Cooke's Hotel, and the walk well repaid us, for it 
was beautiful in the extreme. Not only are the views very fine, 
but every tree is a specimen, although not so large as those in 
other parts. By climbing to this height also we obtained a view 
of the wonderful treeless mountains — El Capitan, the Dome, 
Half Dome, the Cap of Liberty, &c. We also saw in the distance 



23 

what in this part are called snow-capped mountains ; but in 
every case the rock was creeping through, and in another six 
weeks' time I do not believe any snow would be found on them 
at all. From Grlacier Point we had a most wonderful view of 
the Half Dome ; an immense granite mountain rising straight 
up like a round-headed Dolomite, and then split in two ; one 
side being rounded down smooth, the other being a straight per- 
pendicular precipice of say 2,000 feet. This Half Dome divides 
the two valleys of the Little Yosemite and the Yosemite Valley 
proper. Looking down, as we did now, upon the Mirror Lake 
from a height of about 4,000 feet, the Yankee's expression, 
comparing it to a toad-pond, recurred to my mind, and, certainly, 
from this distance, it looted a very insignificant patch of water. 
I ought to have mentioned before that the Yosemite Fall was 
visible during nearly the whole of our ascent, and besides this 
we had also a view of the Little Yosemite Fall (a continuation 
of the other), which does not show to advantage from the valley 
below ; they can only be properly seen together whilst ascending 
the opposite side of the valley. The Yosemite is, I think, the 
best of these waterfalls, but they are all most beautiful. 

After a short rest at Glacier Point we started off for the 
Sentinel Dome, having to ascend again through the forest, where 
we saw some magnificent trees, amongst which we especially 
noticed some Douglas Firs. At first we mistook the trail (foot- 
path) and got on to the wrong mountain ; but, on seeing the 
Sentinel Dome in the distance (a barren granite rock with one 
fir tree on the summit), we made for it, and were well rewarded 
for doing so, for we had a glorious "view all round. On the one 
side were the Yosemite Falls and Valley ; on the other the 
Nevada Falls, with the Vernal Fall below; mountains all round, 
and a splendid panorama of the Sierra Nevadas. In one direction 
were fir trees growing out of rocks half covered with snow — quite 
a wintry scene ; in another, we looked right down into the valley 
towards Milton, a deep blue haze increasing the beauty of the 
view. Again, in another direction, we saw the wonderful Half 
Dome, the Cap of Liberty, Cloud's Rest, &c., &c. No panorama 
could be better ; it was quite different from anything I have 
seen in Europe ; the mountains here have a character of their 
own, and everything looks desolate and cold, for there are no 
patches of green grass to relieve the immensity of the grey 
granite cliffs — in fact, there is no green except the interminable 
dark pines ; which, though beautiful when taken individually, 
give the effect of dreary sombre masses when seen from a dis- 
tance. During the descent from the Sentinel Dome we again 
lost the trail, and were nearly an hour before regaining it. When 
one loses one's way in a forest like this, there is some difiiculty 
in finding it again, but we could have retraced our steps to the 
Sentinel Dome, although for the moment we had lost sight of 
it. On returning to Glacier Point we stayed there another 
couple of hours, and the view struck us even more on this second 



24 

visit. We also went to " The Point," which is situated at the 
head of a sheer precipice of nearly 4,000 feet. The scene from 
here was more wonderful and beautiful than I can describe, 
embracing, as it did, the whole of the Yosemite Valley right and 
left ; the centre of the Valley, far down below, being overhung 
by a dark blue haze, which added much to the effect. Unlike 
the higher grounds of the Sierra Nevadas, the Valley itself 
looked perfection, with the blue Merced River flowing through 
it from end to end, and gradually widening as the different 
waterfalls it passed helped to increase the volume of water ; with 
patches of green fields here and there, and almost every tree 
appearing to stand out singly as a specimen. This view from 
" The Point " (the real Glacier Point) mast be one of the finest 
of its kind that the world can produce, combining mountain, 
valley, and water scenery. The deep blue haze was very re- 
markable, and I fancy must be peculiar to these valleys after 
mid-day. 

An Englishman, whose acquaintance we had previously 
formed, joined us here, and together we slowly began the descent, 
being very reluctant to return to the hot valley after the beauti- 
ful mountain breezes we had been enjoying. On the way we cut 
some manzonita walking sticks; but it is difficult to procure 
good ones. Further down I noticed something stirring in the 
brushwood, and called out that it was a young bear, and, on 
tracking it, the footprints confirmed my belief. A bear had been 
killed in this neighbourhood on the previous day, and I expect, 
as this was a small one, that it was one of the cubs. The view 
from half way down, about 1,000 or 1,500 feet above the valley, 
was again most striking, each giant tree appearing as if planted 
on purpose, and the whole place conveying the idea of one huge 
arboretum. Lower down, the path seemed to wind through an 
enormous rockery, with trees and shrubs, on each side above 
and below, placed as though carefully planted for effect. Every- 
thing was beautiful, and it reminded one of a rockery adjoining 
an Italian villa ; but here no human hand had created the love- 
liness — it was all perfectly natural. This expedition occupied 
altogether about eleven hours, and was the best and pleasantest 
we had hitherto made. 

The trees which grow the most luxuriantly on these moun- 
tains and in this valley are — Ponderosa, Lambertiana, Nobilis, 
Grandis, Douglas, Mabilis, Contorta Tamara, Monticola, Balsam, 
and Thuja Gigantea, — the latter is very similar to, if not the 
same as, Libro Cedrus Decurrens. Curiously enough, the Wel- 
lingtonias are not scattered among other trees over the moun- 
tains, but grow only in patches, viz. : in the Fresno, Mariposa, 
and Calaveras groves, and one or two other places. It must be 
understood that almost every tree is what we should call a 
" specimen," running up from 30 to 250 feet high. Besides these 
trees the American and Evergreen Oaks grow to perfection alL 
through this country, attaining to magnificent dimensions. 



25 

The beauty of the climate here is a great advantage in 
travelling, for it is always bright and fine at this time of year, 
and a rainy day is never thought of, — so much so that people 
were astonished at our having umbrellas with us ; — these neces- 
sary appendages to European travelling being here regarded as 
quite useless. Owing to the di-yness of the atmosphere the heat 
does not seem excessive — though the thermometer it often at 96'^ 
in the shade. There are some rattlesnakes about, for which one 
must be on the look out ; but the chief drawback for pedestrian 
expeditions is the dust and dry sand, with which the paths are 
inches deep. One great advantage in the Yosemite Valley is that 
all the sights are free — an agi'eeable contrast to Niagara, where 
one has to pay a dollar (4s) at every turn and at each point of 
view. Of course, living, &c., is very dear ; but, dear or cheap, 
the Yosemite ought to be visited ; for it is a wonderful and 
beautiful sight, of which no description can really give any 
adequate idea ; but, once seen, its splendid views and waterfalls 
and magnificent timber would form a life-long reminiscence. 



ARTICLE IV. 

SODTHEEN CALIFORNIA. 

We left the Yosemite Valley at 6.30 a.m. on June 9tli, by coach 
for Clarke's Hotel, returning by the same way by which -we had 
come along the valley. We took our last look at the Yosemite 
from Inspiration Point, and the view impressed us quite as much 
as it had done before, and must be reckoned as one of the most 
perfect the world can produce. On stopping to change horses, 
we were invited to eat bear, and found on enqiiiry that the 
animal which we had heard had been killed in the neighbour- 
hood was the particular bear in question, and had fallen by the 
hand of a determined, dirty-looking fellow whom we now saw 
standing over its skin. The latter was neatly pegged out on the 
ground, undergoing the process of being preserved. The man 
told us that while he had been out after horses, he had met a 
black bear, which " frothed in his face," and, he believed, 
intended to attack him, althoiigh he never before knew an instance 
of a bear turning upon a man without provocation. Anyhow he 
had let off his rifle and wounded him, and then, managing to get 
away and fetch his dogs, soon dispatched him. The meat was 
not bad to the taste ; rather like beef ; but very tough, and diffi- 
cult to swallow, even with the help of potatoes and water. Thei-e 
was another man in the hut — a savage-looking fellow, who must 
either have been half-starved, or else was very much devoted to 
bear's meat, judging from the manner in which he was devouring 
it. Our host was very hospitable, but had a peculiar manner, 
which may, perhaps, be accounted for by a fact I afterwards 
discovered, viz., that a 25 gallon cask of whiskey had arrived at 
the hut on the previous day. 

From Clarke's Hotel we visited the Mariposa Gi^ove of 
Wellingtonias, of which space forbids me to say anything here : 
and the following morning (June 10th) we started off again by 
coach at 6.30 a.m. for Madera station. It was a very hot day ; 
at 9.20 the thermometer stood at 100" in the shade, and, later on, 
the heat increased, and the dust was dreadful. It was altogether 
one of the hottest and dustiest days we had as yet experienced. 

The route from Clarke's to Fresno Flats, 27 miles, is one 
immense forest ; it is all free, so that anyone who desires may 
come and cut down a tree and take it away without charge. The 
monarchs of the forest are fortunately so large that they are 
considered almost worthless ; the extra trouble in converting 
them is thus their safeguard, and the smaller trees are those 
that first of all fall to the woodman's axe. Signs of the pioneer 
were here and there visible, and the secluded approach to the 



27 

Yosemite is already being viewed as a source of future gain. 
Occasionally a hammock might be seen slung between two trees ; 
and the dog' and rifle filling in the picture were tokens of some 
squatter's location. A dense mass of smoke was another sign 
that the work of destruction had commenced, and that a section 
of ground was being cleared. The emigrant cuts down, in the 
first instance, what timber he requires for fencing, and for build- 
ing his house ; and then proceeds to burn the remainder, and, in 
many cases, he burns, not only his own trees, but the adjoining 
ones. Timber is regarded as such useless lumber that no one 
thinks of complaining, but it is no easy matter to stop a forest 
fire when once started. We passed through two or three of these 
so-called clearings — smoke, fire, and all, but they were in a half- 
extinguished state. The forest pioneei-s of this part of California 
are hardy, experienced backwoodsmen, and it is no place for a 
young hand to try his fortunes. Clearing a section of forest is 
an expensive and arduous task ; and what is now being done in 
the Sierra ]S"evada raountain forests will not bring in a great 
return in point of farming. All this district, now so remote 
from railway communication, will doubtless eventually be 
opened up ; and then these magnificent forests will become a 
source of wealth to the timber trade, whereas now the expense of 
hauling and conversion is their great safeguard. 

We traversed the same road as on the previous Tuesday ; 
the only diflierence being, that, instead of ascending, we were 
gradually descending ; and that we were bound to catch a train — 
the 6.7 p.m. from Madera to Los Angeles. Our driver knew this, 
and I must say that he showed himself to be equal to the occa- 
sion, and an excellent whip ; especially once when he took us 
down the side of a mountain, in beautiful style, at the rate of 14 
miles an hour. He had a team of six horses, and the run down 
was about five miles ; the road a good grade, but with some very 
sudden bends and turns, and extremely narrow (only just room 
to pass along) ; the outer side also was not in the best of repair. 
Besides this there were, in many places, on the inner side, sharp 
projecting rocks, which would have made it rather awkward 
for us had a wheel touched them. The man commenced hum- 
ming a tune at the top of the incline, and did not stop it till we 
had reached the bottom ; during the whole time he worked his 
team with voice, hand, and foot — the right foot having command 
of the break. Not a mistake was made by horse or man, and it 
seemed to us a wonderful feat of driving, especially considering 
the pace at which we went. I occupied the outside seat on the 
box, with one of my finends next me ; and we had sometimes to 
hold on with both hands to avoid being jerked off the coach. 
These Californian roads are abominably rough, for they are not 
stoned, only cut out, and no trouble is taken to remove projecting 
rocks, so that these, combined with the ruts, make the bumping 
one has to undergo veiy unpleasant at times, as we found to our 
cost during our dinve to the Yosemite and back. 



28 

Whilst on the drive to Madera we formed the acquaintance 
of two American farmers from the State of Iowa. They were 
intelligent men, and had come out to the far, far west to see the 
state of the country. But they did not seem as satisfied with 
California as they had expected to be, and much preferred their 
own State of Iowa as a wheat-producing- country, though they 
were much struck with the orange groves of Southern California. 
There can, however, be no doubt that there is a field for labour 
in this country, and at a high rate of wages ; but the two seasons 
(only the dry and the wet) and the mixture of races — Mexican 
and Chinese being employed — are drawbacks to recommending a 
British workman to seek his home so far from Europe, when 
other openings, without these disadvantages, can be found nearei* 
home. So far as California as a wheat-growing State is con- 
cerned, I am of opinion that its best days aie over, now that 
there is so much competition elsewhere, but I believe it has a 
great future before it as a vine-gTowing and orange-pi^oducing 
district. 

When it came to the last stage, it was evident that our 
chance of catching the train at Madera (twelve miles off) was a 
very doubtful one; but the remainder of the journey was over 
prairie, and oiu" two coaches both went at full gallop, keeping a 
little distance apart, so as to avoid the dust. About a mile from 
Madera there was a cry of " the driver's hat," for the latter had 
been blown off, and was seen making the best of its way through 
clouds of sand and dust. It was, however, secured by one of 
our party after a considerable run. The dust raised by our two 
galloping coaches was tremendous ; and, in addition to this, 
when we were about three miles from INLadera, a blizzard (or 
sand-storm) set in, which was anything but pleasant. However, 
the pace answered, and, soon after six o'clock, we galloped into 
Madera Station to find the train already there, with Dr. Gwyn, 
who had come all the way from San Francisco to meet us, 
anxiously looking out for us. He said they had all given us up 
as too late for the train, and had this really been the case it 
would have been excessively inconvenient and annoying both to 
him and to us ; but, happily, a " miss is as good as a mile," so 
we jumped into the cars, and presently set to work to have a 
good wash and brush, and to get ourselves " fixed up " generally 
— for, of course, we were in a dreadful mess, and quite covered 
with dust and sand. 

The blizzard continued for some time after we were in the 
train, blinding everything, and obliging us to have all the 
windows and ventilators closed. This part of California is 
ditficult to irrigate, and the country looked much more burnt up 
than it had done the previous week, and the flowers appeared 
withered. The next morning we passed on through the same 
burnt-up country ; quite different from what I had expected to 
see in this part, for I had thought to find good land the whole 
way from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Nearer the Pacific 



29 

coast it may be better, but that is twenty miles or more to the 
westward. 

We arrived at Los Angeles at 7.55 a.m., and were met at 
the Depot (station) by Mr. Shorb, of San Gabriel, with whom 
we adjourned to breakfast, at which we were joined by the 
Mayor. Contrary to our expectations, Los Angeles was not at 
all a pretty place ; it seemed very Spanish in its aspect and 
manners. After breakfast we started off, accompanied by Dr. 
Gwyn, Mr. Shorb, and the Mayor, in a carriage and four, to see the 
vineyards of San Gabriel. On our arrival at one of these, we 
were taken over an extensive range of new buildings just put 
up, and then had to taste all the wines, of which we thought the 
best were port and Angelica. Afterwards we drove through the 
vineyard, and then on through others, until we reached Mr. 
JShorb's house, where we were regaled with cake and mint- julep. 
The latter is a compound of whisky, sugar, water, and ice, and 
is a nice cooling drink. As we had hardly tasted anything but 
water for the three previous weeks, this visit to the vineyards 
made rather a difference in our mode of living. After a short rest 
we drove on to call on a Mr. Rose, and see his vineyard and 
orangery ; and also his stud of horses, which are very good. The 
vineyard appeax^ed to be in excellent order, and the crop of 
oranges and lemons very abundant. Great quantities of these 
latter fruits are produced in this country ; they are sold here at 
the late of 1 dollar 50 cents per box of about 120 oranges. We 
noticed a great many pomegranate trees in bloom ; it is a very 
pretty shrub with a red flower (often double), and some of the 
hedges were formed of it. 

Later on we continued our drive to the Sierra Madra Villa, 
where we were to pass the night. It was such a pretty place, 
completely surrounded by vineyards and oi-ange and lemon 
groves ; with large bushes of geranium (six feet high), growing 
in the garden and grounds. This place (an hotel) is 15 miles from 
Los Angeles, and is situated 1,800 feet above the sea, on a slope 
of the Sierra Madra Mountains. We had very nice rooms, and I 
was glad of a little rest ; and, with a cigar and armchair, and my 
feet well out of my bedroom window, succeeded in making myself 
very comfortable, enjoying meanwhile the beautiful view towards 
the Pacific Ocean, of wliicli, though 25 miles distant, we could 
here obtain a glimpse. The climate in these parts is delightful ; 
this evening thei'e was a nice breeze, and it was not at all too 
too warm. There was a slight fall of rain to- day — a most unusual 
occurrence at this season of the year, for Dr. Gwyn told us that, 
during his 35 years' experience, he had never before known it 
happen at this season. We had a very pleasant day, and I am 
very glad to have seen this southern jjart of California. Where 
water can be obtained for irrigation, it is a luxuriant country. 
The drive of ten or twelve miles from Los Angeles to the San 
Gabriel wine manufactory is mostly over prairie, and uninteresting 
in point of scenery ; but the view from the Sierra Madra Villa is 



30 

decidedly good, though not veiy remarkable ; a plain in the fore- 
ground studded with orange groves and vineyards, and low moun- 
tains right and left. A great many invalids come here as a health 
resort during the winter (from October to AprilJ, on account of 
the dryness of the soil and the pleasant climate. There are some 
rattle-snakes about, which is a drawback. Chinese and Mexican 
workmen are a good deal employed here ; we saw six of tlie former 
engaged in filling a carb on our arrival at the villa. The following 
notice was piit up outside a saloon on the Southern Pacific Rail- 
way, at a station-house called Lang, which we passed this morning : 
— " Eating House," " Good You Bet." In Los Angeles I saw a 
tradesman playing a customer over the counter for cigars, double 
or quits, I suppose. 

When I awoke the following morning, the birds in the orange 
groves were singing merrily ; and after breakfast we went out to 
pick and eat some of the fi-uit, for oranges are never so nice as 
when one plucks them for oneself While thus occupied, I noticed 
a large geranium bush, growing almost wild, the topmost flower of 
which was as high as my head. About 11.30 we reluctantly left 
the Siei'ra Madra Villa, and its pleasant quiet, and setoff in a two- 
horse buggy, in the charge of the clerk from the hotel, who was to 
take us for a drive, and land u.s at Mr Shorb's (our host of yester- 
day) in time for luncheon. We went with him to see various 
vineries, and then to a large scattered village calletl Pasadena. 
Nine years ago there was not a house in the place ; it is now 
divided into lots of five aci'es and upwards, and a very thriving 
community is arising ; neaidy every hoase has its orange grove and 
vineyard. There is no saloon (or public house) in the place, and 
all the people, by mutual consent, (are supposed to) drink water 
only. Houses are being rapidly built, and I saw a larg-e hotel in 
course of construction ; on the whole I take Pasadena to be a place 
with a future before it, — partly on account of its climate, which 
will make it a winter resort for invalids. On our arrival at Mr 
Shorb's house about 1,30, we were immediately presented with a 
mint-julep ; this was quickly followed by luncheon, which was a 
feast, indeed. We were waited upon by a Chinese, but whether 
man or woman we could not make out. It was a splendid 
entertainment, with all sorts of Californian wines, and champagne, 
to finish up with. After luncheon we drove to San Gabriel Station, 
where we said good-bye to Mr Shorb and returned to Los Angeles, 
and there caught the train to San Francisco, in which we procured 
sleepei-s. Dr. Gwyn still accompanying us. 

The drawback to the Los Angeles district, and to other parts 
of California, appears to be the difficulty of getting water for 
purposes of irrigation. Fuel is also scarce; but, of course, in such 
a warm climate, comparatively little is required, and wojd is a 
good deal used. The country is, however, very bare of trees for 
fuel, a great deal having been already cut down ; but 1 saw some 
groves of Eucalyptus being planted, which shows that the inhabi- 



31 

tants have an eye to the future. I \ras told that soft coal, brought 
from Australia, costs as much as 10 dollars (£2) per ton. There 
a'-e a great many tropical plants growing near San Gabriel ; and I 
hear that in April, and the beginning of May, the fields are 
covered with masses of beautiful wild flowers. English walnut 
trees thrive well here, and a great many are being planted; fig-trees 
of large size grow in the fields ; and currant and gooseberry bushes 
and almond trees abound. Cherries are just being imported, 
aud, as far as they have been tried, do well. Very pretty 
avenues ai-e formed of the pepper-tree, it being both shady 
and handsome in its growth. Chinese and Mexicans are the 
gardeners, and do the grape-pruning, and indeed all the work — 
even to selling vegetables to the natives, instead of the latter 
growing them for themselves. I am told that this mixture of 
races in labour is freely employed ; otherwise one might have 
thought it rather objectionable. The next morning we passed 
through a dreary country, sadly in want of water and rain. At 
Merced, where we breakfasted, we came across the two men we had 
seen in the Yosemite, driving a large car covered with placards, and 
who had told us that their object in travelling in such a way was 
" to ran an advertisement." 

We reached San Francisco at 2.30 p.m., having passed Bay 
Point at 12.30, at which place Dr Gwyn's son has an estate of 
2,000 or 2,500 acres. This place Dr Gwyn had asked us to visit ; 
so, accordingly, on the following day, we left the Central Pacific 
Station at 9.30 a.m., and on reaching Bay Point were met^by 
Mr. Gwyn, jun , and taken by him for a drive through vast 
corn-fields, one being as large as 640 acres, or a square mile. The 
Californian crop does not appear to me to be larger, in point of 
Inishels to the acre, than in England, but the great advantage they 
have over us is that there is no uncertainty as to fine weather for 
harvest ; the only doubt is whether or not there will be a sufficient 
qviantity of rain after the seed is planted, aud, as far as I could 
gather, there is a failure in this respect about once in six or seven 
years. As regards the harvest operations, the grain is thrashedand 
bagged in the fields, the sacks remaining there, or alongside the 
railway track, until fetched away by the cars ; for, as there is no 
fear of any rain, it is unnecessary to place them under cover, or to 
house them in granaries. The straw is either burnt or turned in, 
and if there are cattle on the ranche, of course what is required 
for them is kept. Diflferent machineiy is used for cutting the wheat; 
one machine is a " header " — i.e., just takes ofi" the heads ; another 
is a very clever one, and heads, stacks, and thrashes the corn, and 
puts it into stacks, all by the same process. What is called " hay" 
in this country is really oats, barley, or wheat cut when green, 
and, after being left for a short time in the field to dry, stored in 
a barn for use. The straw with the grain left in it is is freely 
eaten by the horses. These latter are of a superior breed, and 
go along at a good pace ; both they and the live stock generally 



32 

looked well and liealtliy, so sleek and fat and in good condition. 
In tlie afternoon we had a long dinve through I'apidly ripened 
cornfields, until we really began to grow tired of the golden 
mass. The harvest was rather backward this year — it generally 
commences at the end of May or early in June. The corn-farms 
are called " ranches," and a grass farm is distinguished as a 
" cattle ranche." After taking leave of Mr. Gwyn, we crossed 
in the steam ferry to Benecia, and returned by rail to San 
Francisco. 



ARTICLE V. 

BRITISH COLUMBIA. 

Before proceeding' to say anything about British Columbia, 
perhaps a few words on American Hotels may not come amiss 
here. The Palace Hotel, at which we stayed when at San 
Francisco, was a magnificent place, with 1,000 bedrooms ; my 
room there was No. 500 on the 4th floor. This was the largest 
Hotel we stayed at, but they are often on the same sort of 
scale. They are usually built with a spacious hall (which, 
as a rule is paved with black and white marble) ; this is used as 
sitting and smoking room ; in it are generally a telegraph and 
a railway ticket ofiice, a book stall, a cigar store, and a bar 
and barber's shop adjoining, The staircases are sometimes of 
marble ; the dining- saloons and di-awing rooms are very fine 
rooms, and there is always a side entrance for ladies. The bed- 
rooms, as a rule, are well furnished, with comfortable beds, and 
clean well-aired sheets. Several of the hotels have capital bath- 
rooms ; and in many cases they are attached to the bedrooms. 

With few exceptions all the attendants are blacks, and though 
I am told that they make good hotel servants, and are in 
consequence much sought after, yet, when the first novelty had 
worn off, I should much have preferred having my bell answered 
by a white man. At the door of the dining saloon stands a 
head-man to shew you to youi^ place, also a nigger to take your 
hat. I was surprised to see the way one was shown day after 
day, to the exact seat one had occupied from the first ; and also 
how the nigger outside would single out the right hat out of a 
collection of perhaps 200, without ever making a mistake. 

The hotels ai-e conducted either on the European or on the 
American system. Of the former I need not say much here ;— - 
the rooms are invariably dear, and the food at the restaurant is 
also expensive for a single traveller, because one portion is 
enoiigh for two or three persons, and so the price is natiirally 
high ; — but two or three people travelling together would find 
more economy in the European than the American plan. The 
hotels which I have visited conducted on the former system were 
the best, and I prefer it in every way ; but, doubtless, for a person 
making a home of an hotel, the American plan ma;^ answer well, 
as it is virtually boarding at so much a day. In either case wines 
are very dear ; the Americans drink milk or water with their 
meals. 

The American system is to have board and lodging at an 
hotel at so much per diem ; many Americans make the hotel 
itself their home, and even people with private establishments 



34 

often come there for their food, in which case they are charged 
so much a meal. Speaking as a traveller, I found the charges 
vary from 3 to 5 dollars (12s to 20s) a day, and I must confess 
that I do not like the system. 

On arrival at the hotel, a guest-book is presented to you, in 
which you write down, or " register " your name ; you are then 
given a key, and taken iip in a lift to your room. The hours for 
meals vary in different localities ; as a rule breakfast is from 6 
to 10 o'clock ; dinner from 1 to 3; tea 5 to 8 ; and supper from 
8 to 12 ; if you do not manage to get your meals within these 
hours (which in travelling is often inconvenient) you are shut 
out, and must either wait for the next meal, or, if you venture 
to order anything to your room, you are charged an exorbitant 
price. In the majority of the hotels the food is indifferent. A 
menu is given you from which you make a selection, and then 
the whole of your dinner is put on the table at once, in a quantity 
of little dishes about five inches by three ; and, of course, half 
the things get cold long before they are wanted. The meat is 
often tough and bad ; and I found as a rule that ham and eggs, 
and omelette, with coffee, were the best things to ask for. 
Excellent iced water is always provided. On leaving, you 
are not given a regular bill ; sometimes you are only told 
what you have to pay, sometimes you are given a slip 
of paper, on which the whole amount is put down in a 
lump sum. If you think it too dear, and expostulate, you are 
invariably told that is the rule, and that those are the charges. 
I often thought Ij or 1| day was included in our day's bill, but 
on further experience, I found that the custom was to divide the 
days into quarters, therefore, if one registered one's name in the 
guest-book at 2 p.m. (having had luncheon previous to arrival) 
and left the hotel the next morning at 8.30 a.m. one was charged 
the whole day, including the 1 p.m. dinner. I asked a Yankee 
" Commercial " how he in his profession avoided this arbitrary 
rule, and he told me what he did was to register late in the 
evening and give up his room every morning if it was necessary 
for him to stay in a place more than a day, and then to 
register again in the evening. And by .this means he paid for 
half a day, or at the outside three-quarters of a day, instead of a 
whole. It is unnecessary to explain the inconvenience of this 
plan, and the extra and needless expense involved. Thus it will 
be seen that one pays the same whether one partakes of the 
meals or not, and that if out on a day's excursion no difference is 
made in the charges. 

I found American travelling more expensive than anything 
I have before experienced, except in Russia ; and this is due to the 
hotel tariffs, for the railway travelling is not dear. At most 
hotels all the officials treat you with great unconcern ; and in all 
cases you must look out for yourself, for you are viewed more 
as receiving a favour by becoming an inmate, than as conferring 
one by your custom. If you ask a question at the oflBce, you get 



35 

the shortest possible reply, and have to word it as if addressing 
a great man instead of the office clerk, and you must await his 
pleasure, in listening to you. But I must say in the event of 
asking for local information you invariably receive attention, 
and it is willingly and kindly given. There is one convenience 
as regards letters ; there is a small box attached to the place 
where you hang up your bedroom key at the office ; in this letters 
or telegrams for you are put on arrival, so that you can ascertain 
for yourself whether there is anything* for you without always 
having to ask the question. 

Although, as a European, I do not care about the American 
hotel system, still there is much to be said in its favour for 
Americans themselves, and I quite acknowledge that our cousins 
from across the Atlantic must have much to find fault with in 
oar system in England. 

One gTcat thing in American travelling is that tourists are 
not a part of the system, — one is treated by Americans fairly, as 
one of themselves, and there is no such thing as two prices, one 
for Americans and one for strangers. Where a European pays 
highly, Americans would pay highly also (a very usual occur- 
rence), and although when fii'st travelling in America one feels 
alarmed at the little one gets in exchange for a dollar, one 
soon becomes accustomed to it, especially when one sees how 
Americans themselves fare in this respect. Europeans are, I 
should say, as a rule, allotted the best available accommodation 
at an hotel, and in this respect they are certainly treated with 
kindness and attention. 

On Friday, June 15th, we left San Francisco for Victoria, 
British Columbia, by the s.s. Dakota, a steady old vessel of about 
3,000 tons, somewhat of a tub, and certainly not fast, as she took 
from 2 p.m. on the Friday till about 11 p.m. on the Monday to 
run 756 miles. On reaching Cape Flattery (when we saw British 
Columbia for the first time), to enter the straits of San Juan, 
the view was very good indeed. The straits are eleven miles 
broad ; — on our left lay Vancouver Island, British territory, its 
mountains completely covered with forest from summit to base ; 
on our right was Washington Territory, which here appeared 
also to be one mass of forest coming right down to the water's 
edge ; — and before us lay the snow-covered range of the 
Olympian Mountains ; — the waters of the Pacific Ocean, and 
Cape Flattery Lighthouse in the foreground, standing on a 
grassy knoll, with dark caves beneath, completed the picture. 

The town of Victoria struck us as very English, the streets 
rather untidy, with grass gi^owing, excepting in the main sti"eets, 
on the side walks ; and everything so nice and green, such a 
difference to burnt-up California. Each house in the suburbs 
appeared to have a flower-garden attached, reminding me in this 
of Jersey or Guernsey towns. We made several enjoyable expeditions 
from Victoria to Esquimont, Cowichan, and Saanwich ; to New 
Westminster and up the Fraser River to Yale, and on beyond to 



36 

Boston Bar ; also to Bui'rard's Inlet, English Bay, &c. The 
excursion to English Bay, on the mainland, was a very interesting 
one ; we drove first through dense forest, passing magnificent 
timber from 150 to 250 feet in height ; meanwhile travelling 
over what is called a corduroy road (made of logs of wood placed 
crossways with a little sand on the top) to a place called 
Granville. From here we set out to walk the remainder of the 
distance, along an Indian trail, which, as we soon plunge I into 
what seemed to us the thickest of forests, we speedily discovered 
to be very difficult to find or see. There had been some rain 
during the morning, and the result was, that between the drip 
from the trees and the wet fern and underwood, we soon were 
drenched ; trudging along as we did through this wonderfully 
dense forest for about three miles. It is impossible to describe 
how beautiful it was, in its entirely natural and luxuriant 
growth ; numbers of the trees and old stumps were quite covered 
with moss ferns, hanging mosses, and creepers. These, and 
many plants of whose names I am ignorant, grew in every 
direction, forming quite a fairy-like scene. The timber was also 
magnificent, especially the Douglas Fir, Hemlock Spruce, and 
Thuja Gigantea, and the foliage most luxuriant. We had great 
difiiculty in finding our path, and almost as much in forcing our 
way through the mass of undergrowth, for the fern-leaves at 
times were some feet above our heads. 

On reaching the end of the trail we found an Indian digging 
potatoes in his garden, assisted by his squaw, and made arrange- 
ments with him to take us on in his canoe to English Bay. It 
was a small-sized one, and we had but just room to lie down in 
the bottom, and could only move sufiiciently to strike a match 
with great care. The Indian managed his craft from the stern, 
by means of a single paddle, with which he both propelled and 
steered it. These canoes are made out of a single trunk of the 
Thuja Gigantea, and are either hollowed out with an axe or 
burnt out. They are, therefore, rather crank, but the Indians 
manage them admirably. Upon our leaving the canoe I gave 
the Indian a cigar, and offered him a light from my own. He 
immediately seized it, and was going to transfer it bodily to his 
own mouth. But I just succeeded in rescuing it in time, for 
which I was rewarded with a hideous grin from ear to ear. 

English Bay is mentioned as a possible terminus for the 
Canadian Pacific Railway, in case Port Moody on Burrard's 
Inlet should have to be abandoned for this purpose. From 
what we saw of it, however, we thought great expense 
would have to be incurred here in building a breakwater, 
and that upon the whole a place called Coal Harbour, 
(which is also spoken of) was more suitable, weie it not for 
the additional cost of bringing the line on fifteen miles 
beyond Port Moody, which is at present the recognised terminus. 
Port Moody is beautifully situated at the head of Burrard's 
Inlet, and, being completely land-locked, the water is almost 



37 

always perfectly calm ; its average depth is about ninety feet, 
and it is of considerable depth close to the shore, for vessels of 
twenty-six feet di-aw can go up to the new wharf. At present 
it consists of only about half-a-dozen wooden houses, but others 
are in course of erection, and should the terminus be really here, 
a good sized city will immediately spring up. The weather last 
winter was very severe, and a portion of Burrard's Inlet was 
frozen over for a short time ; this is the reason given for a 
possible change of terminus. 

We had another charming expedition from Victoria to New 
Westminster, which is situated on the mainland of British 
Columbia. The scenery was quite fascinating as we steamed 
along the Sound, and made our way through a quantity of 
beautiful islands, and then through Kuper Pass into the Strait 
of Georgia, and so on up the Eraser River, the scenery of which 
is at first uninteresting, but soon improves. The site chosen for 
New Westminster seems an admirable one, but as yet the town 
is only one quarter built, and the trees behind it have been 
damaged to such an extent by forest fires that nothing but bare 
poles were to be seen. We continued our journey up the river 
by steamer, and were soon in the midst of beautiful mountain 
scenery, which rose up on each side of the river, many of the 
summits being partly snow-covered ; the foreground was filled 
up by forests, which came down to the water's edge. We saw 
signs of the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway on our 
left in ascending the river, and crowds of Chinese and Indians at 
work on the line; about 8,000 are employed. Gradually the 
scenery became more and more beautiful, the river was very 
wide and swuft, but muddy ; the mountain spurs on each side 
were about one and a half to tw^o miles apart, thus leaving a 
considerable quantity of flat land betw^een, which looked good 
soil, only it was too thickly covered with trees. The nearer hills 
appeared to be very steep, the higher and more rocky mountains 
rose behind them, and their shapes were splendid, most of them 
had snow in patches, but few were really snow-capped as in 
Switzerland. On arriving at Yale (which was a pretty, but 
rather a miserable sort of place), Mr. Onderdonk, the contractor 
for this portion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, most kindly 
placed an engine and car at our disposal to take us the following 
morning thirty-two miles further on along the completed railway 
track. He could not lend us the engine during working hours, 
so he named the early hour of three a.m. for our start. The oifer 
was too good to refuse, so we accepted it, and were up at two 
a.m., and, after a hasty breakfast of dry bread and cold water, 
we were off punctually at the time named. At first we went 
through beautiful scenery, but by degrees it became less varied, 
with trees of a smaller growth than those we had previously seen. 
The river narrows, and rushes past at a tremendous rate, 
particularly at a place called " Hell's Gate," where it contracts 
to quite a narrow channel, two cliffs projecting on either side 



38 

opening to allow of the passage of tlie water. The line ran along 
the left bank of the river (the Fraser), and was sometimes 
unpleasantly near it ; a considerable portion of the track was cut 
out of the rock, and in many places there were heaps of over- 
hanging debris, which ought to be removed. The curves were 
rather sharp, and there were a great many wooden bridges and a 
succession of short tunnels — fourteen of the latter in as many 
miles. Near a place called Boston Bar, 40,000 people at one 
time, were seeking gold iu the bed of the river, during 
the gold mania of 1862, finding it among the sand left dry when 
the river was low. Even now people make a considerable income 
by washing ; and I was told that several of the Indians, when 
they wanted money, simply went to the river, and washed till 
they found enough gold to support them. This sand is old 
debris which has accumulated in the course of ages, having 
been washed down from the mountains, which mountains contain 
a deposit of gold. When we reached the end of the completed 
track, our engine reversed, and we returned to Yale after a most 
enjoyable trip. But it would be impossible here to enter into 
details of all our excursions. Cowichan on Vancouver Island 
was a very pretty place, and had a " settled " appearance ; it is, 
I should think, one of the best and most prosperous farming- 
settlements we saw. We were also interested in a trip north to 
Nanaimo and to Departure Bay, which is the great coaling station 
for the whole of the Pacific Coast. 

Whilst we were in British Columbia we did some land- 
prospecting on our own account; this gave us an opportunity of 
seeing some of the most beautiful portions of Vancouver Island ; 
and we were thus brought in contact with some of the 
inhabitants, from whom we obtained both useful and valuable 
information. Nothing could exceed the kindness and hospitality 
of the settlers ; they received us always with a warm welcome, 
and were anxious to give us what information they could ; and in 
the majority of cases, were ready to enter into a bargain to sell 
their own holdings for a handsome consideration — supposing we 
were willing to buy. But land is absurdly dear at present, for 
there are su.ch great expectations of the "boom" which will 
follow upon the completion of the Canadian Pacific Bailway, 
and also of the island railway from Nanaimo to Victoria, that 
the prices asked are usually very high. The present race of 
settlers are mostly men who have taken up Government lots at 
about one dollar per acre, and the greater part of them are 
miners who made money at the gold washings on the Fraser 
River, or at Cariboo. They are, as a rule, happy and contented ; 
but perhaps this is brought about less by their success as 
farmers than by the excellence of the climate. One and all, 
whatever other complaints there might be, always wound tip by 
saying that British Columbia enjoyed the finest climate in the 
world, and that this in itself made them contented and happy. 

One day, as we were wandering in a forest, land-prospecting 



39 

witli a settler (a farmer), we noticed at the base of a huge 
DougUis pine a little wooden cabin made of a cross-stick on two 
poles, with strong strips of bark leaning against them to form two 
sides. There was but just room for a man to crawl underneath ; 
nevertheless, in this the owner had lived, summer and winter, 
for twelve years ; on his own holding of about a hundred acres, 
which he had not attempted to cultivate further than by cutting 
clown a few of the magnificent forest trees, here and there. Not 
long ago, this man unexpectedly came into a large property else- 
where. Search was made for him, and on being discovered he 
was taken off, new clothes provided for him, was shaved and 
had his hair cut, and then was shipped off by the next mail to 
his new home and his riches. We saw the ashes of his camp 
fire, the kettle, and some old clothes, all still remaining just as 
he had left them. 

This is a perfectly true incident, and tends to prove what 
the climate must be. For my own part I believe the summer 
to be perfect, never very hot, but like a beautiful spring day, 
with a gentle breeze from the north, which springs up about 
eight a.m. every day, and dies away towards six p.m. in the 
evening. A good deal of rain falls in the winter, but the cold 
is never severe west of the Cascade Mountains, and there is 
hardly ever enough snow in the winter to run a sleigh. The 
climate of Vancouver Island is greatly to be preferred to that 
of the mainland, there being much less rainfall on the former 
than on the seaboard of the latter. 

On Vancouver Island I believe the best agricultural lands 
to lie about Saanwich, Cowichan, and Comax ; the interior is 
still all wood, and at presented has been unsurveyed. 
On the mainland there are some farm-lands of good quality on 
the Lower Fraser, though with rather a heavy rainfall, and the 
farmers are annoyed by mosquitoes ; higher up the river the 
lands are subject to floods. The land available for farming 
purposes is called " bottom-land ;" but there is too little of it 
ever to make British Columbia much of a farming country. 
Bottom land, as the name indicates, means land found here and 
there in valleys, in low undulating sections of the mountains. 
The farms are, therefore, much scattered, and there are 
none of any extent on Vancouver, or on the west coast of 
British Columbia. A farm of 300 acres is considered large, and 
they generally average about 100 acres. In the interior, the 
farms are cattle ranches, and gTazing lands of large extent, but 
these also are scattered far apart on account of the mountainous 
state of the country. The beauty of the climate makes one regret 
all the more that the farming lands are not more extensive ; 
otherwise it would be the place of all others to which a small 
farmer should emigrate. But from what I have observed of the 
country I think agriculturists could do better further east ; the 
farms which I saw were in patches here and there, and were all 
small and badly worked ; there is so much lumber (wood and 



40 

timber) about, that it would be impossible to procure a cleared 
farm, of any size, and, in order to make one, a man's lifetime 
would be spent in cutting down the timber. Wages are also 
very high ; they are said to be double here what they are in 
Eastern Canada. Tt appears to me, therefore, that the future 
prosperity of British Columbia must be derived from its mineral 
resources rather than from agriculture. The timber undoubtedly 
is a great source of wealth, but this will naturally diminish in 
time, though at present the supply is immense, and in size 
and quality it is some of the grandest in the world. In proof of 
this, I may mention that planks 6 or 7 feet wide and 80 feet long 
can be cut from the Douglas Fir, and I was told of one 
of these trees measuring 12 feet in diameter at 10 feet above the 
ground ; at its base it was as much as 50ft round. However, such 
is at present the difficulty of transportation and conversion of 
timber in this distant region, that a pine tree 150 feet high and 
5 feet in diameter does not, while standing, represent the value 
of more than a dollar. Without water communication, trans- 
portation of any kind from the interior is difficult and expensive. 
To the east of the Cascade Mountains the climate is said to 
be quite different ; the cold there is very severe in winter, and 
but little rain falls during the summer. The sage-bush and 
bunch grass grow there ; the latter is long grass, cured by the 
sun and quite dry. On farms with this grass a large range is 
required, for when once eaten down it does not grow again until 
the next season. It fattens cattle amazingly, but sheep ruin it 
entirely, for they eat it down too close ; many districts are 
already spoilt by over-grazing. The country near Kamloops 
Lake, and again near the Suswap Lake and district, is said to be 
promising for settlement ; but the good agin cultural lands are 
very scattered, and but small in extent when compared with 
other localities, and the extremes of heat and cold must, I think, 
prove a drawback to the lands east of the Cascade range. The 
following information was given me as regards settlers, &c. : — 
A man coming with the intention of taking up 160 acres at the 
Government price of one dollar (4s) per acre, would have no 
chance of procuring cleared land, but would have to take it 
covered with lumber, and clear and fence it himself. To fence 
fifty acres would cost 120 dollars (£24). Then to clear the land 
from wood ; to chop down, would cost him ten dollars (£2) per 
acre, but thisonly means willow and alder, and these two are always 
an indication of good land. To clear pine land is much more 
expensive, and would take quite 200 dollars (£40) per acre. But 
the value of the timber would make some return for this outlay. 
Partially cleared land can be bought from £1 to £30 or £40 per 
acre ; uncleared land (assuming it to be covered with willow or 
maple) would cost about £10 per acre to get into cultivation; 
this would include cutting and burning, levelling and open 
draining with cedar wood. This method of draining is much 
practised in British Columbia; a tree is split up edgeways in 



41 

three-cornered lengths ; these are placed in a drain about three 
feet deep, in such a manner as to allow the water to run under- 
neath ; if good hearty timber be selected, it will last for years. 
The following average of crops in the Cowichan neighbourhood 
may be of interest : — 

Hay, 2 tons per acre ; value, 25 dollars (£5) per ton. 

Oats, 50 bushels per acre ; weight, 401bs. per bushel. 

Barley, 45 „ „ „ „ 601bs. „ 

Wheat, 40 „ „ „ „ 621bs. „ 

Hops, exceptional — they grow well in Washington Territory. 

Swedes and turnips grow well, sometimes reaching 301bs. 
to 401bs. in weight. 

Peas are indifferent. Beans do not do well. 

Labour is expensive ; white, 2| dollars (10s.) per day ; the 
Indians have 2 dollars (8s) per day ; this is much dearer than 
it used to be. Very few men are kept on any farm all the year 
round ; I met the owner of a farm of three hundred acres 
where only one man was regularly employed. I think, however, 
that a labourer or artizan of any description ought to do well 
out in Victoria, British Columbia ; and if steady and active he 
might put by a large sum of money. Of course it must be 
remembered that the long journey out is most expensive. It 
cannot be managed under £30, even at emigration prices ; and 
it would cost an ordinary traveller £50 to £60 to reach Victoria 
(B.C.) direct from Liverpool. It would be cheaper for an 
emigrant to go round in a sailing vessel via Cape Horn, but the 
journey would probably take about five months to perform. 
Besides this, wages would go down if there was any great influx 
of emigration. Common labourers now get 6s. to 8s. a day ; 
masons and good axemen, 16s. to 20s. a day ; carpenters, 
gardeners, and painters, 12s. a day. Women servants could 
obtain immediate employment at a high rate of wages — £60 or 
£70 a year, if not more ; and would besides in all probability be 
able to retire from service and enter into married life within six 
months, if desirous to do so ; indeed, it is for this reason that 
people think it hardly worth while to import women servants, 
as the expenses would be heavy, and the result would most 
likely be matrimony, and not lengthened service. All the 
necessaries of life are excessively dear ; no coin less than a five- 
penny-bit is taken or given in change. Some time ago the 
Canadian Government tried to reduce the small change to less 
than this sum, but the townspeople of Victoria expostulated ; 
and on finding that no notice was taken of the complaint, they 
collected all the coins of less value than a piece of ten cents. 
(viz., 6d.), packed them up in sacks, and sent them back to 
Canada, with the settlers' compliments. 

For a person seeking a pleasant home in the colonies, 
Victoria, British Columbia, is the place I should recommend. 
Domestic servants are, however, so very scarce that Chinese are 
employed, and they make faithful servants so long as they are 



42 

trusted. One Cliinaman will do what is called " run a house " 
— i.e., do all the cooking, waiting, and washing, for a family. He 
must, however, be trusted with everything, and paid in full 
whatever he asks ; for should his honesty be doubted, he will at 
once rob you, or leave your service. 

Provisions in Victoria are dear, with the exception of fish ; 
first-class salmon can be purchased at fivepence per pound. 
House-rent in Victoria is very dear ; town lots command 
enormous prices. Whilst we were there, half a Town-lot in the 
main street was sold for 15,000 dollars, but I should add 
that it was a corner frontage. A great many of these 
corner frontages are not yet built upon, as they are 
being held by speculators ; but were I one of that happy frater- 
nity, I think I should avail myself of the present high prices, 
and not wait for the inevitable drop which is sui^e to follow a 
" boom." 

The conclusion at which I arrived was that British Columbia 
though rich in minerals and timber, is not an agricultural 
district. The available lands at Vancouver and the west of the 
mainland are good, but insufiicient in quantity to tempt a tide 
of emigration of the farmer class. However, a farmer with a 
little capital, buying land at once, might do well ; for the cleared 
land must increase in value, as the colony will increase in 
population when the Canadian Pacific Railway is completed. In 
the interior the lands are more of a grazing quality ; hence capital 
would be required to stock them. The great drawback in the 
interior is, however, the want of water, as little good can be 
done without irrigation. Domestic servants, agricultural 
labourers, and artizans ought, if steady, to do well. N"ursery 
girls would be at a premium, for the ladies of Victoria, although 
they employ a Chinaman " to run the house," do not take one 
to run the nursery ; hence young girls willing to " take the 
baby " command a high figure, and soon realise the value of their 
services. 

We passed many happy days in British Columbia (with its 
beautiful scenery), but there was so much to do and see, that 
had the weeks been lengthened out to months we should still 
not have seen all ; and should have left it with the same keen 
regret, as after our short stay. The hospitality of the Victorians, 
fi"om the Lieutenant-Governor downwards, was unbounded ; we 
soon made acquaintance, not only with the Lieutenant-Governor, 
but also with the Premier, several of the Judges, and other leading 
men. But I regi'et that we did not form the acquaintance of a 
luminary of the law, who, in the exciting times of the gold mania 
at Cariboo, kept such a strict hand over the lawless population, 
that it was reported of him " that, after sitting in judgment all 
" through the week, when he took his well-earned rest on a Sunday, 
"he spent his leisure hours in looking out for trees on which to 
"hang criminals on the Monday." 



ARTICLE VI. 



THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY OF CANADA. 

We left Britishi Columbia on July 6th, with great regret ; going 
by sea to Tacoma (Washington Territory), thence by rail to 
Kalama, and on by the Columbia and Wiiliamette rivers to 
Portland (Oregon). We were told that the scenery was very 
good, but of this we could form no idea, as nothing was visible 
on account of forest fires ; the smoke from which totally obscured 
the views, and rendered the atmosphere suffocating. From 
Portland we travelled eastwards 700 miles, by Northern Pacific 
Railway, as far as Missoula ; and then had to drive 135 miles 
over the Rocky Mountains, across the then unfinished portion of 
the line, to Helena (Montana Territory) ; — a very rough and 
wild bit of travelling in every way ; but some of the scenery was 
well worth all the ti'ouble. We continued our journey from 
Helena by rail to Glyndon Junction (passing thi-ough Dakota 
Territory), and thence to Winnipeg — another run of over 1,000 
miles. 

Here we met the friends with whom I had a long-standing 
engagement to go to the Noi'th-West Territory ; and on July 
20th we started on the long-talked of expedition, travelling in a 
Directors' Car, a party of eight, and taking our own provisions 
with us. Indeed, it would have been very difficult, or, perhaps, 
almost impossible, to have traversed all the country we did in 
any other way. 

Manitoba itself is only a small province. The portion of 
Canada designated the North- West Territory adjoins it on the 
north-west, and is now being rapidly opened up by the Canadian 
Pacific Railway. I intend to write this article about the North- 
West Territory, and to reserve any information on Manitoba for 
my next and concluding article. 

On leaving Winnipeg our car was attached to the ordinary 
morning passenger train west. We struck out at once upon the 
open prairie, and after passing Portage la Prairie and Brandon 
(both in Manitoba), we reached the frontier station, Moosomin, 
in the North- West Territory; 219 miles west of Winnipeg. Here 
the mounted police came to examine the car, for no spirits are 
admitted into the North-West Territory. These men are well 
dressed in red uniforms, and have the appearance of being smart 
soldiers. The corps bear a very high reputation, and they are 
said to get on capitally with the Indians, and to have a great 



44 

influence overtliem. It seems rather an arbitrary rule, that no 
spirits, beer, or other intoxicating liquors should be allowed in 
this country ; but, during- the construction of the railway, and 
until the whole district is more settled, there are reasons in 
favour of this self-inflicted law. Besides, it should be 
remembered that " firewater " (i.e., strong drink), has a most 
powerful and disastrous effect upon the Indians : so much so, 
that a settler convicted of having given any to an Indian, renders 
himself liable to a very heavy punishment indeed. The law is, 
of course, evaded at times, and drunkenness is an occasional 
result. I was much amused at hearing in one district, of a 
trial which had just taken place, in which the accused had stated 
in his defence that he had really got drunk, not from drinking 
spirits, but Worcestershire Sauce / However this might have 
been, it is a fact that, in consequence of this anti-liquor law, 
many drinks are concocted, having the appearance of strength, 
but which I can vouch for as being very nasty to the palate. 

The country round Moosomin is very imdulating, and there 
is a good deal of scrubwood about ; but I should doiibt its being 
much of a farming district. Close on each side of the railway, 
it looked almost uninhabited ; for a " one mile belt " was being 
reserved, in order to avoid the chance of the land being bought 
by speculators, and not by bona fide settlers. Since last autumn, 
however, this land has been thrown open, and will soon be 
inhabited. We saw the settlers' houses dotted about in the 
distance, on the undulating (or "rolling") open prairie; there 
seemed to be a great many small farms, but mostly rather far 
apart. 

From a station called Indian Head we visited Bell Farm, 
managed by a company; under the superintendence of a Major 
Bell. They have taken up 56,000 acres, and intend breaking it 
up at the rate of 7,000 acres a year. From here we di-ove on, a 
distance of twenty miles, to Fort Qu'Appelle, over a very 
sparsely-populated district, all open undulating prairie, with 
small farms here and there. We stopped to speak to a settler, 
who had come to these parts a year or two before, from Ontario. 
He told us that he was very happy and contented, and preferred 
the North-West to his old quarters ; and that though the six 
months' winter was long, and there was not much to do besides 
cutting wood, and feeding cattle, he did not much mind that ; 
and " it was better for the boys than in Ontario," and they 
themselves preferred it. 

From Fort Qu'Appelle we made a very interesting expedi- 
tion to a large encampment of Red Indians of the Cree tribe ; 
a Mr. Macdougall, whose acquaintance we had formed, and who 
was well-known by the Indians, having preceded us there, to 
ask permission for us to call. At some distance from the camp 
we were introduced to a half-breed Indian, who undertook to be 
our interpreter. The camp, containing a hundred wigwams or 



45 

more, was on a flat elevation. As we drove past, every tent 
produced a number of peering faces, painted red, or yellow and 
red, the liaii'-partings being generally of the latter colour. 
About four hundi-ed Crees Avere assembled here, for there had 
been a great function on the previous week, which the different 
neighbouring chiefs and their tribes had come to attend. One 
ceremony had been to admit five warriors as " braves." These 
unfortunates had had to undergo various ordeals, of which one 
was to have a stick run through the flesh of the chest, and 
another, to be strung up by the skin of the shoulders for an 
hour and a half ; — during which latter operation, I was told one 
of the Indians fainted twice. On appi'oaching the large wigwam, 
we saw that we were in for a regular "Pow-wow" (levee). 
The tent was crammed mth Indians, the chiefs being seated 
together at one end, with the band at their side. The sight was 
one we shall never probably see again. The tent itself was 
about forty feet long by fifteen feet broad; made of dirty canvass 
or skins, and sujDported by light cross poles, very like our hop 
poles. Towards its southern end were three cauldrons contain- 
ing food; one delicacy being dog stew, which is thought a great 
dainty. We were met at the door by Chief Pasquah of 
Qu'Appelle Lake district, who introduced us to the assembled 
chiefs, seven in number, all Cree tribe Indians, and we had 
great shakings of hands all round. Their names were : — 

Chief Cote, i.e. — The Coast, from Pelly. 

„ Keechehona, i.e. — The Keys, from The Keys. 

„ Pasquah, i.e, — The Plain, from Qu'Appelle Lakes. 

,, Muscowpetung, i.e. — Little Black Bear, from 

Qu'Appelle Lakes. 
,, Pepekens, i.e. — Eagle, from Titihills. 
„ Okanes, i.e. — Thigh Bone, from Titihills. 
,, Kawakatoos, i.e. — Poor Man, from Touchwood. 

After the introductions were over, we took up our positions 
on the ground, and watched the dancing', singing, and orations. 
There was really a tune in some of the song's, and the music 
seemed to us very far superior to that of the Chinese, — at least, 
as we had heard it at San Francisco. The dancing was in the 
centre of the teut, and was joined in by some six or ten at a 
time, to the music of the band ; the head man selecting the 
dancers. He was not a chief, but what we should call a master 
of the ceremonies. He was an old man, and wore a dirty white 
blanket, and blanket trousers and mocassins ; but had nothing on 
above his waist, except a dirty white handkerchief tied in a 
band round his head. He had several patches of paint in streaks 
about his body and arms, but was not nearly so well dressed as 
some of the other Indians ; for some of the dresses were really 
handsome, and of wonderful colouring. Finding we were in for 
a regular " Pow-wow," we took our seats on the ground, and 
philosophically resigned ourselves to do anything that might be 



46 

required of us, in order that we might show our love for our 
Indian fellow-subjects; but at the same time we devoutly hoped 
that we should not be called upon to taste the great Indian 
delicacy of dog-stew, which was simmering in the cauldron, and 
was the nastiest-looking thing in the camp (which is saying a 
good deal), or even to join in the pipe of peace, which we saw 
looming in the distance. 

The following slight description of some of the dresses will 
show how curious the scene was : — Chief Pasquah wore a 
Jim Crow hat and feather, a leather jacket trimmed with beads, 
red trousers made out of a blanket, with black braid round the 
ankles, (there being a tear on one side, through which a large 
piece of thigh was visible) ; a long piece of drapery was hung 
from his shoulders with small flat brass balls attached ; he wore 
mocassins on his feet, round his waist was a belt with fire-bag 
(to contain matches and tobacco) ; his face was painted a bright 
vermilion, his hair was long and black, he carried a pipe in his 
hand, and on his breast hung a pair of scissors and a looking 
glass in a case — evidently a present. (A few days later I was 
given a paper drawn by this chief, in illustration of all the 
presents he had received from the Government ; it is really a 
very interesting document, and a great curiosity). Another 
chief had an eagle's feather head-dress, fans of feathers, silver 
rings on his fore-fingers, face painted yellow with dashes of 
vermilion. One old Indian chief was not painted like the others, 
but was dressed in darkish clothes, and wore a round black hat, 
trimmed with wide gold braid. He was a stranger ; and 
came as a guest, the representative of a tribe 300 miles away, and 
sat out the whole performance with gi^eat stolidity. With this 
exception, all had more or less coloured faces, some being painted 
bright vermilion down to the nose, and yellow ochre below it ; — 
which is quite sufficient to give a hideous expression. Earrings 
were the general ornaments ; the hair was mostly worn very 
long, and in many cases plaited, but one or two had it cut so as 
make it stand up on end. 

Chief Pasquah made us a speech, remarkable for its apparent 
fluency. In this he was followed by a young warrior, during 
whose oration the band struck up between each sentence, giving 
a single note on the " tom-tom " — a circular instrument, struck 
with a stick. The speech of this young warrior was translated 
to us by our interpreter, and was an account of the number of 
mien he had killed. Mr. Macdougall, who had arranged our 
interview, advised that we should, before leaving, see how the 
Indians keep a record of their fights, and of the number of their 
victims. One tall Indian, whom I had noticed before, was 
therefore selected. He wore a large linen mantle, and showed 
us examples painted on it in yellow, illustrating how he had 
killed eighteen Indians, each showing how the deed had been 
done. 



47 

After witnessing a great deal of dancing, singing, and 
speechmaking, we thought it time to move ; so one of our party- 
was advanced, as our representative, to make a speech, which was 
duly translated to the Indians by oiu- interpreter, and was as 
follows . — " We, Palefaces from the East, are making a journey 
to the Rocky Mountains, and we have come here to enquire into 
your welfare. But, although Palefaces, we are the children of 
one mother, the Queen of Great Britain ; and we have come to 
see you, such valiant men, who have fought siich great battles. 
We are sorry to hear that you are sometimes hungry, so we have 
brought you some tea and tobacco, and some vermilion with 
which to decorate your squaws ; and we will send you some flour 
and bacon on our return. We must now wish you good-bye, and 
may the Great Spirit direct you, and keep you in the right 
path." 

After this followed a great deal of handshaking, and then 
we took our departure from the Indian camp and returned to 
Fort Qu'Appelle. Our first present to the Indians consisted 
only of tea and tobacco, and vermilion for painting themselves ; 
the bacon and flour were an after- thought. They, however, 
evidently expected a handsome present, for they sent to ask if 
they should send a cart to fetch it ; so we made the best of it, 
and answered in the affirmative. These gatherings only take 
place occasionally, so it was most fortunate for us that we should 
have come across such a sight during our trip to the North 
West. 

Fort Qu'Appelle is Avell situated in a deep valley, on a flat, 
between two lakes. The land in the district is reported to be good, 
and it is reckoned to be one of the best openings for settlers, in the 
unoccupied part of the North- West. A drive of fifty miles on the 
lollowing day gave me a fair opportunity of judging of the country, 
and its capabilities. Seated on a "buck-board," — i.e., a kind of 
carriage with four wheels, and no body except a small seat in the 
centre, with just room to sit, — one was supposed to be able to 
undertake any amount of prairie-driving, whether rough or smooth. 
I saw a gi'eat variety of country ; some woody, with small tarns 
here and there, and good grazing grass between the patches of 
scrub — the soi-t of country which, were I a settler desiring to 
locate myself in the North. West, I should certainly view with a 
favourable eye as being at any rate worth inquiring about ; the 
proximity of water and wood being a great advantage ; and I 
should prefer a mixed to an arable farm. Then we came upon the 
wide, open, rolling prairie, with not a tree to be seen, nothing but 
a sea of waving grass ; but although the latter was of an inferior 
quality, there were indications that the land was well calculated 
for corn growing. This district appeared to me in every way ex- 
cellent for an arable farm, and, being what is called " rolling " 
prairie, small farming could be better carried on here than on the 
absolutely flat plain ; and, naturally, the di-ainage is moi-e perfect. 



48 

Thie prairie flowers, especially the toses, were beautiful, and wild 
strawberries grew here and there in such large patches, that, sitting- 
down, one could gather as many as one could eat within arm.'& 
length. 

After this we came to a piece of land which will probably re- 
main in its present state for many yeara to come, being poor, 
hungry soil, interesected with swamps, and covered with stones 
and boulders. It will decidedly be best left alone, as a playground 
for the gophei'S. 

Tlius it will be noticed that in a fifty miles drive, I saw three 
distinct varieties of country ; so if a man wants to settle he ought 
to take no one's advice, but should visit the countjy and decide for 
himself. I do not think that any drive could give a better idea of 
the prairie of the North- West than that I have just touched upon. 
I was told that a great deal of this land v^as taken up, but I saw 
but few settlers. Those I spoke to expressed themselves as happy 
and contented, and had no complaints to make. They all spoke 
of the length of the winters, but apparently thought feeding cattle 
and cutting wood sufficient occupation for that time; and none 
wished to return to their previous Canadian homes. From the time 
the winter sets in in the North- West, I am told that one never 
gets one's feet wet ; the snow is so crisp and hard, 
and no damp ever peneti-ates, so that the people wear only 
mocassins. No rain falls in winter ; only snow occasionally,. 
but a snow blizzai'd must be an uncomfortaVile thing. The 
thermometer is sometimes forty degrees below zero; but on account 
of the dryness of the atmosphere the cold is not felt as much 
as might be imagined ; and settlers say they prefer this 
climate to that of Ontario or Qviebec. Nevertheless, I should 
think that the long six or seven months' winter iiiust be a 
great drawback. 

Fort Qu'Appelle is the ancient treaty-ground of the 
Indians, and many people think that this place, or Moosejaw, 
should have been the capital of the North-West instead of 
Eegina. 

The following information may be usefid : — The best wheat 
field of the North-West, said to be the finest in Canada, is about 
two hundred miles long, by one hundred miles wide, extending 
from Battleford and Prince Albert in the north to Qu'Appelle and 
Brandon (in Manitoba) in the south. The lands about Prince 
Albert are all taken up, and it is a very flourishing colony. There 
are districts within the belt, by Beaver Hills and Touchstone Hills, 
and also not far (north) from Fort Qu'Appelle, still ojjeu for settlers. 
The best cattle ranches are in the north west district, in the neigh- 
bourhood of Fort McLeod. I am of opinion that a settler, to do 
well, should not start with less than £300 to draw upon. This, 
would be expended as follows ; — 



GO 
60 



49 

Journey for two, say ... ... ... £4<0 

Homestead fee (IGO acres) ... ... 2 

Pre-emption land (160 acres), say ... ... 32* 

Lumber for building a four-room house and 

stable, say 
One year's supply of food for self and wife (a 

low estimate), say 
Yoke of oxen, say ... ... ... 50 

Waojs;on ... ... ... ... 16 

Plough ... ... ... ... 5 

Two cows, say ... ... ... 30 

Farm tools ... ... ... ... 20 

Extra cash for seed, contingencies, kc. 

£315"^ 
Of course a single man can make the necessary deductions from the 
above, and a married man with a family the necessary additions. 
But many people consider that a settler should have at least 
enough money to keep him in food for two years. The larger 
the family the better, after settling; children being looked upon with 
favour, as free labourers on the farm. It must be remembeied, 
that if a man takes up land, say in the eai'ly spring of the one year, 
he cannot look for any return from his corn crops for at least 
eighteen months afterwards. Upon taking to a prairie-farm of virgin 
soil, the first operation is to do what is called ' breaking," which is 
to turn over the top soil about two inches deep and twelve broad; 
this is done about the month of June. Next comes the " back- 
setting " ; this is ploughing between the above-named slices, and so 
turning the undex'-soil to the top ; this commences about August. 
Then the land is fit for cultivating and seeding about the following 
May. Thus the first year is a dead loss, so far as any return is con- 
cerned. Some settlers sow upon the open prairie the first year • 
but 1 cannot think that this system is to be recommended. I see 
no call at present for an influx of the labouring classes into the 
North West ; for, except where capitalists or companies employ 
labour, the settlers have as much as they can do to support them- 
selves, without employing outside labour, except in the busy times 
of the year. 

Returning to the railway, we continued our journey to 
Eegina, the new capital of the North- West TeiTitory. The Govern- 
ment otEces, and the residence of the Governor ai-e here ; as well 
as the new barracks for the mounted police. A year ago there was 
not a house, or even a sign of one, in the place ; now several are 
built, and there are plenty of hotels, it possesses one broad street. 
As no iutcxicating drinks are allowed, "saloons" are absent; 
nevertheless Regina does not look happy or properous. There is 
no good water supply, so I cannot see why the city was started 
here, when so many other more desirable sites could be foiind. One 
well a hundred feet deep has lately been sunk, and water 

* Tliis should have been £80 — i c, at the rate of 2J dollars per acre ; theie'oie my 
rough estimate for taking up and starting 320 acrea of land should have been 
£3CiS at the lowest, intituad of jb'315. 



50 

successfully found ; but at tlie railway station none had been dis- 
covered at a depth of two hundred feet. Regina is three hundred 
and fifty-six miles west of Winnipeg, and is situated on an 
absolutely flat plain. The surrounding soil is not good, being 
all clay, with but little loam on the top. Grass does not grow 
well, and farmers seem to say that it is doubtful how other 
crops will do. It was a dreary-looking country ; with no tree 
or shrub visible the whole way, until we reached Moosejaw. 
Here we saw another Indian encampment of the Cree Tribe, 
under the leadership of Chief Pie-pot ; they were on the march 
east, and had encamped for the night. Just as we stopped at 
the station, the chief himself crossed the line. He was very tall 
and bold-looking, and we were much struck by his fine appear- 
ance. He wore a fur cap, and a mantle over his shoulder, and 
carried a feather fan. We all shook hands with him, and invited 
him into our car, and gave him a cigar. I shall never forget his 
eye of inquiry whilst the cigar was being lighted for him by one 
of the party, by means of a lucifer match — Pie-pot meanwhile 
having the cigar in his mouth. The sulphur of the match was 
not quite burnt out, and the old chief tasted it at first instead of 
the tobacco, and evidently wondered for a minute if a joke were 
not being played upon him ; but as soon as he tasted the tobacco 
he was all right again. Further west we came upon another 
camp of Indians (the Assiniboine Tribe), also on the march 
eastwards ; probably on their way to the rendezvous, where the 
Government serves out the yearly grant to all Indians in treaty 
with the Dominion Government, and which consists of blankets, 
and so many dollars a head. All the Indians of the North 
Western Territory are well disposed and friendly to the settlers. 
This is in a great measure owing to the Hudson's Bay Company, 
who always treated the Indians in such an upright and honour- 
able way, so that they were attracted to our rule, and learnt 
to respect the Palefaces instead of becoming their enemies, which 
otherwise they might have done. They have reservations on 
which they reside, and do not mix with the settlers. 

Beyond Moosejaw we passed some very bad lands (after, say, 
twenty miles west), full of alkali ; and then came across a very 
poor district, the vegetation consisting principally of sage-bushes, 
and signs of a general drought being everywhere visible. It 
must, in fairness, be remembered that last summer is said to have 
been the di'iest ever known in the North West. But in my 
travels I have generally found that, whenever there is anything 
amiss, one is told that the season is an exceptional one, and I do 
not think that I shall be far wrong in stating that, west of 
Moosejaw (398 miles from Winnipeg) the land begins to deterio- 
rate, and continues to do so for the next 200 or 300 miles. 

We arrived at Medicine Hat, situated on the Saskatchewan 
River, on the 25th July. This was, at that time, the terminus 
of the passenger trafiic, and here our trip must have ended, had 
it not been for the facilities afforded by our private car, which 



61 

the authorities were kind enough to allow to be attjiched to the 
"construction" trains — i.e., trains used by the contractors for 
the completion of the line to Fort Calgary under the Rocky 
Mountains. Medicine Hat " City," as it is now designated, 
reminded me of an English fair. Most of the so-called houses 
were tents, though some of the stores were built of wood. What 
the population is I cannot say ; bat I should roughly estimate it 
at 1,000. On the 26th April last, there was not a shop or a 
house in the place ; now, it is a " City," and already contains 
seven hotels ; some of which, indeed, are only tents, making up, 
perhaps, half-a-dozen cribs, but they bear the name " hotel " 
over their doors. There are also a number of stores, six billiard- 
rooms or halls, a post-office, one or two restaurants, and " a 
parlour." " For ice creams," " For cold drinks." Medicine 
Hat is expected to become a real city in the future, not from any 
reputation of having good farming lands in the neighbourhood, 
but because of the proximity of coal in this district. As we 
travelled on from Medicine Hat, attached to a construction train, 
the lands looked miserably poor and di'ied up ; this was the case 
until we reached what was called the Thirteenth Siding (about 
120 miles west of Medicine Hat), after which the soil began to 
improve, and continued doing so for the remainder of our journey ; 
but it is not to be compared to Manitoba soil, about which I shall 
have something to say in my uext article. 

On our arrival at the Fifteenth Siding we made arrange- 
ments with the owner of a buggy and waggon to convey us to 
Fort Calgary, 40 miles further on. This man transferred his 
headquarters when the railway people did theirs, which was 
about every two or three days. We passed a long line of traders, 
consisting of twelve waggons tied together in twos, sixteen to 
eighteen bullocks being attached to each waggon. This sort of 
locomotion must be very slow, and will soon be supplanted by the 
railway ; it is, therefore, one of the sights of the North West, 
which will shortly be amongst the things of the past. It may be 
of interest to mention here the extraordinary rapidity with 
which railways are made on the other side of the Atlantic, viz. : 
at the rate of from three to six or seven miles a day ; but, not- 
withstanding this rapidity, I can testify that the Canadian 
Pacific Railway is well and solidly built, and is by no means 
constructed in the way sonae people imagine, by merely laying 
down sleepers in the prairie, without any earthwork. In point 
of fact, no embankment is the exception, and not the rule ; the 
line being raised on a slight embankment for the whole distance 
from Winnipeg to as far as it was completed when we visited it. 

Leaving the railway, we drove for forty miles across the 
prairie without seeing the sign of a house, and over indifferent 
land ; and, crossing the Bow River, arrived at Fort Calgary (838 
miles west of Winnipeg), where we took up our quarters in a 
tent. We passed little or no water in our forty miles drive till 
we came to the Bow River, which we had to cross in a ferry, 



50 „ 


2s. 


50 „ 


2s. 


25 „ 


Is. 


25 „ 


Is. 


25 „ 


Is. 



52 

about a hundred yards wide. Tlie cliarges were as follow : — 

Double vehicle and two horses, 100 cents — 4s. English money. 

Single vehicle and horse 

Horse and rider 

Horse, mule, or cow . . . 

Sheep, hog, calf, or colt 

For every person except 
team driver ... 

For all articles not in a vehicle, over lOOlbs. weight, 15 cents. 
— 7|d. per lOOlbs. 

Double the above amount after sunset. 

It did not appear to me that this part could ever make a 
good farming district, on account of the summer frosts, which 
seem to occur very frequently. We heard that there had been 
a sharp one on the previous night (July 25th), and on going to 
inspect a quarter of an acre of potatoes, we found that three parts 
of them had been completely frost-bitten. I was told that there 
were some good farming lands at Edmonton, 150 to 200 miles 
north of Fort Calgary and that the climate there was the same 
as at Fort Calgary, but that it is rather milder south, about 
Fort McLeod, which is reported to be a good stock-raising 
country. I had some conversation with an old settler, who told 
me that the west was filling up fast, but that he thought it 
would be the same as in Manitoba — " a lot would come, and 
then half of them would go away again." This man had resided 
in Manitoba as well as in the North West, and he told me that 
he saw little or no difference in the climate, between Winnipeg 
and Fort Calgary, except that there was less snow at the latter. 
I can myself vouch for the cold of the nights in July, for when 
sleeping as we did in a tent, I had great difficulty in keeping 
myself warm, even under a buffalo robe. As regards the climate, 
I was told that snow frequently falls in October, and sometimes 
in September ; but that winter really sets in on November 1st, 
and that after that there is snow continuously on the ground till 
about April. June, as a rule, is the wet month of the year. In 
further reference to Fort Calgary district, I was told that it was 
not favourable as an agricultural country (which means ploughed 
lands), on account of the summer frosts ; and that it was more 
suitable for horses than for cattle. Whilst visiting a friend a 
few miles south of Calgary, I had another opportunity of making 
inquiries, and found that there a sharp frost, cutting off all 
the potatoes, had taken place on the 20th July. I was anxious 
to ascertain about the climate and land in this part (called the 
south west part of the Great North Western Territoiy), as I 
had heard that it bore the reputation of being the best feeding 
land in Canada. It appears that the country south of Calgary 
is best for feeding, and that to the north of it is very good for 
agricultural purposes ; but Calgary itself is not exceptionally 
good for either. The Grovernment cattle ranches are let on 21 
year leases, at the rate of ten dollars per annum per 1,000 acres ; 



53 

these ranches vary from 20,000 to 30,000 acres in extent. There 
are stipulations made about the number of cattle to be turned 
out. 

In July the prices of provisions at Fort Calgary, previous 
to the completion of the railway, were as follow : — 

Flour £1 12s. per cwt. 

Beef lOd. perlb. 

Bread Is. per 31b. loaf. 

Milk 2s. per gallon. 

Salt butter 2s . per lb (and very bad) . 

Sugar lOd. per lb. 

The railway was then 180 miles away as concerns goods 
traffic, and on its being opened up, prices would of course drop. 
But there are many places 200 miles and more away from a 
railway, so that the prices I have quoted are perhaps not peculiar 
to Fort Calgary. 

Taking the " North "West Territory " as a farming district, I 
must reluctantly express my disappointment with the quality of 
the soil, and the drawback of the long winter ; and I must here 
give a word of caution, about which more hereafter. I think 
some parts of Manitoba have been rather unfairly neglected. 
Everyone rushes to the west upon arriving at Winnipeg, without 
staying to make inquiries, and the result is in many cases much 
disappointment. 

The land which I saw did not come up to my expectations ; 
for, instead of getting better the further west we went, I was 
obliged to form a contrary opinion from personal observation. It 
is said the worst part of the Territory is adjacent to the railway ; 
but whether this was the case or not, I was not very favourably 
impressed. 



ARTICLE VII. 

MANITOBA. 

We left Fort Calgary late in July, in our two-horse buggy and 
wagon, on our return journey. We again crossed the Bow river, 
but did not follow exactly the same route over the prairie as the one 
we had taken in coming, the railway " terminus " having advanced 
many miles ; in fact, the previous day had been a notable one 
for the track-layers, and six and a-half miles of rail had been 
laid between four a.m. and eight p.m. We had luncheon near 
the only spring in these parts ; and here we found a large railway 
encampment, and a good many unemployed men. I may mention 
that the contractors for this portion of the line do not employ 
Indian or Chinese labour, as is the case in the British Columbian 
section, but white men only. It was very hot throughout the 
day, but immediately the sun went down it became cold ; for the 
nights are always cool and refreshing, even in the height of 
summer. It had been our intention to have visited another 
Indian camp about 800 miles west of Winnipeg, viz., that of the 
Blackfoot Indians (the most powerful tribe in Canada), in order 
to see their sun-dance ; but, owing to the outbreak of an epidemic 
among them, we were dissuaded from doing this, and therefore 
continued our journey east until we left the North- West 
Territory, and re-entered the province of Manitoba. 

Here the first station we reached was Elkhorn, where we 
had arranged to make a halt, in order to visit Mr. Rankin's 
estate (the Assiniboine Farm) eleven miles distant over the 
prairie. Mr Herbert Power met us at the station, and by means 
of his vehicle and a wagon on springs, we were conveyed across 
the open prairie to this estate. It was rather a rough drive. 
Even at a long distance off we could see that something out of 
the ordinary course of things was being done in this part. 
Houses were in course of erection, the sites for which were well 
chosen, and they therefore looked larger than they in reality were; 
for it is a noticeable fact, that on a prairie, things seen from a 
distance always appear to a certain degree magnified in size. Mr. 
H. Power and his brother appeared as glad to see us as we were to 
see them ; and, under the guidance of the former, we were taken 
over the farm, and had a lesson in the Canadian methods of 
agricultui'e. This farm is considered in Manitoba to be well- 
managed, and the land judiciously selected. We saw some 
excellent crops of wheat and oats ; better than any we had seen in 
the North West Territory ; and the oats in particular compared 
very favourably with those we inspected in Southern Manitoba, or 
in the Red River Valley at a later date. Millers will give fifteen 



55 

cents per busliel more for red Fife wheat grown in Manitoba, 
than for Ontario wheat. Mr. H. Power pointed out to us ten 
moderate sized houses for settlers, which were being built at Mr. 
Rankin's expense, with a view to working the land on the half- 
profit system — ^a plan which is much in vogue, and is gradually 
becoming popular amongst American farmers further south. 

Returning to the railway, we continued our journey to 
Brandon, in Manitoba (132 miles west of Winnipeg); and from 
here commenced a drive of over 170 miles to Deloraine, and 
thence to Manitoba city, where we proposed to take the ordinary 
train along the South Western line back to Winnipeg. We hired 
a four-wheel wagon with two horses at Brandon ; and sent 
our private railway car on, via Winnipeg, to Manitoba 
City, where we were to rejoin it in two or three 
days' time. This di'ive was recommended to us by a 
gentleman well acquainted with Manitoba ; who told us that by 
thus visiting Southern Manitoba, we should have an opportunity 
of seeing some of the finest parts of the country. Brandon itself 
is a very rising place, and now boasts of some well laid-out 
streets ; on my previous visit to America two years ago, it 
consisted of but one house ; and I remember being told of thirteen 
travellers having to share one room. It is now a kind of centre 
for this part of Manitoba, and contains no less than thirteen 
livery stables ; which here are horse dealing repositories, as well 
as places for hiring vehicles. 

Leaving Brandon, — close to which flows the Assiniboine 
river, — we saw the Brandon Hills in the distance, from which 
the wood supply for the town is brought. The soil in this 
part appeared to be light and sandy, and the different crops we 
passed did not look very good. We saw hemp, potatoes, wheat, 
and oats ; the latter were bad, dirty, and weedy ; and the grass 
land also seemed poor. Hay-cutting was just commencing, but 
the grass was very short ; and it was only in patches here and 
there, where the land was a little undulating, that it could be 
cut at all. There were very few cattle, but those we did see 
looked fat and well. Considering the proximity of a place like 
Brandon, I thought very little land was broken in proportion to 
the extent of the prairie ; and of what was taken up, hardly any 
was fenced in. There were quantities of prairie roses about ; 
these flowers are, I think, the prettiest things I have seen in the 
North-West, or in Manitoba. In the course of the afternoon we 
arrived at a place called Plum Creek, twenty-five miles fi-om 
Brandon, not having passed anything of much interest on the 
way. The prairie was open, flat, and treeless ; and the natui-e of 
the soil did not vary much in that distance. At Plum Creek 
there were a few trees, (as usual, indicating a river) ; and the 
place itself was quite a nice little settlement. The Souins river 
flows past here, and Plum Creek runs into it. Crossing the 
foi'mer in a ferry-boat, we found the adjoining lands to be of 
excellent quality, but uncultivated : probably they are being 



66 

held by some speculatoi* — otherwise a fine settlement might be 
formed here. The eye rested upon one immense open prairie 
waiting for cultivation; but there was not a house, nor the sign 
of an inhabitant, to be seen for miles. We di-ove eight miles 
south, before coming to a house, or any attempt at cultivation ; 
then we reached a settler's land, where there was a good crop of 
wheat and oats. This man came in June, 1882 ; and the crops 
we saw were his first. His house, instead of being made of wood, 
was a sod house (i.e. built of sods like an Irish cabin), and the 
stable was of the same material. Each man, of course, has his 
separate taste ; but I am not at all sure but that these sod huts 
are warmer than the wooden ones. A stone house is almost 
unknown on the prairie. Many of the frame or wooden houses 
have one or two furrows ploughed round them, in order to prevent 
encroachment by prairie fires. The settlers in the sod hut had 
nothing to complain of, except that the water in the well was 
bad. They said they were satisfied, and certainly if a number 
of children could conduce to it, they had reason to be so. We 
drove on again for six miles, without seeing a house, or any 
broken land ; — the soil in this part was a black loam, two 
feet deep, with a sandy sub-soil. The next person we came upon 
was a young fellow from Ontario, who, in answer to our enquiries 
whether he liked the country, replied, " First-rate." His crops 
of the fii'st year's breaking were as follow :— Peas indifferent, 
but oats, wheat, and barley all good. At the next place we 
stopped we found another Ontario man, who also said that he 
liked the country " first-rate." His crops appeared flourishing, 
and he said the water in his well was good. 

On leaving him we saw no more settlers for eight miles ; 
when, at 8.30 p.m., having driven forty-seven miles from Brandon, 
we reached a framed house, where we asked, and received, per- 
mission to put up for the night. It was one of the ordinary 
settlers' houses, 24 feet by 18 feet; a living-room and a small room 
below, and one sleeping- room above. The stabling was good, being 
made of turf, and covered with loose straw. The arrangements for 
cows rather amused me ; they were placed in an enclosure, with a 
fire in the centre, which smoked pretty freely ; round this the 
cows stood all night whisking their tails, — and thus, aided by the 
smoke, managed to keep off mosquitoes. Smoke is a preventive 
against these tormenting insects ; and cattle unprotected in this 
way would be much annoyed ; indeed, if left out in the open 
without any fire, they woxild stray away for miles befoi-e morning. 
On examining the well I found the water was bad, as in fact it 
very often is in all this part. The settlers informed me that they 
liked the country moderately well. They wei-e very hospitable, 
and our hostess and her davighters were soon busy preparing our 
supper. We had a small stock of provisions with us, and these 
were brought into requisition ; but even withoiit them we should 
have got on very well. It must be remembered that we were out 
on the open prairie, with no house within miles of us ; but we 



67 

made ourselves as comfortable as we could for the night, though 
the accommodation was of course very limited, there being only 
one room upstairs. Our hostess and one daughter slept down 
below, in the little room adjoining the living-room ; the upstairs 
room was divided by a blanket hung across a beam ; on one side 
of this slept the two younger daughters of the house ; and the 
other half was shared by their brother (who had his dog as a bed- 
fellow), our three selves, and the di-iver of our wagon. This 
description will serve to show the general, and, I must say, primi- 
tive, arrangement of a settler's house ; but we considered that we 
were rather lucky than otherwise, for we each got abed to ourselves. 
The next morning we were up at 4.30 a.m., and soon comf)leted 
our toilettf s. The preparations for washing were not extensive ; 
one iron bowl at the bottom of the stairs for the whole party. 
There had been a heavy dew during the night, and it was a cold 
morning, but I noticed that even at this early hoiir the mosquito 
fire was still alight. Tne first settler's house we called at was about 
three or four miles away ; here again I examined the water and 
found it indifferent. The settlers said there was alkali in it, and 
I fancy this is a very common complaint in this district. The well 
was eight feet deep. These people only came last year, and very 
little land is broken up as yet ; they offered to sell their holding 
at ten dollars (£2) per acre. 

We were now approaching a district well-known to me by 
reputation, namely. Turtle Mountains; ten miles or so to the north 
of which there is a great deal of marshy land, much resembling an 
Irish bog ; the base of the mountains (on the north side) appeared 
well settled, and we saw a few crops of oats, but they were all 
weedy. The next house we called at was again inhabited by 
a settler from Ontario ; here the wife was busy irrigating the 
garden, and the crops in conseqtience were really first-rate ; the 
potatoes being especially good. Soon afterwards we reached 
Deloraine, which is situated within a few miles of Turtle Mountain, 
and sixty miles from Brandon. The soil round here is too shallow 
to bear continued cropping without manure, being only a few 
inches deep ; it is light on the surface, with gravel showing in 
places. The water supply is bad, Thirty miles west of this 
place, in the valley of the Souris river, I am informed that there is 
some good land. 

Settlers have only come so recently into all the country des- 
cribed above, that they could give no opinion how long it would 
stand cropping without manuring. In the first year's cultivation 
the crops were decidedly good. Until we reached Deloraine I 
scarcely noticed any cattle about. The farming implements were 
everywhere of a superior description and quality ; the wagons being 
particularly useful little vehicles, set on springs, so that they can 
be used either for locomotion, or for hauling crops — (they are 
called " democi'at wagons''). The diminutive size of the settlers' 
houses is very noticeable ; the medium size is 24 feet by 18 feet ; 



58 

and many are much smaller. Tliere is no variety whatever ik 
style ; every house being of exactly the same pattern, and all built 
of wood, with the exception of a few, which are made of turf. 1 
had expected to find some farms of a better description in a country 
like this, but in this respect I was disappointed ; and I may apply 
this observation not to Manitoba only, but to the North- West as 
well. There are several large stores at various points, where every- 
thing, from kettles and pans and drapery, to bread, biscuits, and 
oatmeal, is to be bought. From Deloraine we went eastwards, 
along the commission ti'ail (i.e., the road used by the Commissioners 
when settling the Canadian and United States boundary) in the 
direction of Manitoba City, the distance of which place from 
Deloraine nobody knew, but it was in reality about one hundi-ed 
miles. I was Sinxious to see the next portion of Southern 
Manitoba (between Deloraine and Manitoba City), as I was told 
it had been settled about five or six years, and I wished particu- 
larly to see how the crops would look on land cultivated for a 
succession of years, without help from fallowing or manuring ; 
therefore I took at the time some careful notes. 

Within a few miles of Deloraine there ap}-»eared in passing 
along to be many signs of alkali ; almost everywhere throughout 
the route we took, there was a deficiency of good water; and for oO 
miles east of Deloraine, what there Avas was bad, and the creeks 
were dried up. The quality of the land between Deloraine and 
Wakopa (thirty miles), varies very much, but none of it is deep 
Boil. The style of farming was veiy bad indeed ; the following is 
a description of some of the crops taken as they came : 
12.10 p.m. — Oats bad and weedy. 
12.30 p.m. — Potatoes very good. Peas poor. 
12.35 p.m. — Land very dirty; many holdings abandoned. 
12.50 p.m.^ — Oats and wheat poor and foul — oats very 
poor. Swedes foul. Potatoes bad. 

1.0 p.m. — Poor wheat and peas. 

1.30 p.m. — Eough land round new house. Oats good, 
but foul. 

2.0 p.m. — Oats poor. 

2.10 p.m. — Good potatoes. Oats poor. Hay in cocks. 

2.20 p.m. — Wheat modei-ate. Potatoes bad. 

2.30 p.m. — Good hay in bottom land. 

2.35 p.m. — Wheat poor. Barley and potatoes good. 

2.40 p.m. — Wheat, barley, and swedes ]joor. Wheat 
fair. 
During the whole of this thirty miles drive, haymaking" 
seemed pretty general ; but the corn-crops were certainly bad 
and backward, and this in a district which had been settled five 
years. When compared with what we had seen on the previous 
day, on lands with the first or second crop, the result tends to 
show that the fertility of the soil is reduced by constant crop- 
ping, without the aid of manure, rest, deeper ploughing, or- 



59 

fallow. Cattle were apparently very scarce. In tlie whole drive 
from Brandon to Manitoba City we did not see 100 sheep, and 
not more than perhaps 200 head of cattle. Quantities of straw 
are wasted ; it being often either left in heaps or burnt. On the 
route we passed a store where we watered our horses, 
but the water was bad. After leaving Wakopa, we 
traversed some excellent grass land for a distance of eight miles ; 
none of it was broken, and it would make a fine cattle ranche. 
Then the country became more hilly, and the soil again shallow ; 
and presently we came to broken ground intermixed with tarns. 
The settlers told us that no one had come into the district of 
late, for the vacant land was all taken up, and held by specu- 
lators. 

Our drive this day, over a distance of seventy-six miles, 
was most instructive ; giving us, as it did, a good opportunity of 
noticing the difference between crops grown on newly-turned 
gi^ound, and those grown on ground turned for successive years. 
The settlers who had come in 1882 had the best crops ; those 
grown by people who had been there four years or more, were 
inferior, and in some cases bad ; therefore I concluded that, after 
taking off two crops, the soil in this district begins to fail and get 
weak, for want of manure, deeper ploughing, or fallowing. At 
a place called Cartwright. where we stopped for the night, there' 
was an excellent spring of water, the best I have tasted in 
Manitoba. Cartwright was forty-seven miles from a railway 
station, and the prices of provisions were as follow : — 

Butter per lb. 25 cents. 

Eggs, per doz. 25 cents. 

Beef, per lb. 18 cents. 

Flour, per cwt. 2 dols. 25 cents. 

Milk, 28 cents. 

Sugar, 12| cents. 

Bread, 5 cents. 

Bacon, 25 cents. 
The proprietor of the inn gave me the following information, 
which is interesting, as it endorses the opinion I have previously 
expressed :— " The best crops of wheat are obtained from well- 
broken and back-set lands ; and, after a second or third crop, 
the soil requires deeper ploughing or manuring. Thirty-five 
bushels of wheat to the aci-e is considered a big yield ; of oats, 
65 to 74 bushels ; and of potatoes, 350 bushels to the acre — 60 
lbs. to the bushel. Hay-harvest in this part is in July and 
August, and wheat-cutting at the end of August and September." 
Our driver (whom we again had to share our supper and bed- 
room) had never been on so long an excursion before, and was 
much delighted with the outing, entering into everything with as 
much zest as we did ourselves. 

The next day we were up at five a.m., and started off for 
a forty-seven miles' drive to Manitoba City, being told that we 
should pass through a finer country than any we had previously 



60 

seen. This we found to be the case ; some of it had been settled 
for five or six years, so I shall again have recourse to my note- 
book for observations on the state of the crops ; selecting one or 
two instances, from a very numerous collection. On fii'st leaving 
Cartwright we drove across a considerable stretch of uncultivated 
prairie — all grass, with low hills, broken land, and ponds of 
water ; — a district admirably suited for cattle-ranching purposes. 
Southern Manitoba is quite a different country from the North- 
West ; it is all much greener, and the prairie grass is longer and 
better. It is a great pity that the district is not more extensively 
settled, and that there is so little money in it ; — the settlers 
whom we saw seemed little above the labouring classes, and 
apparently had no capital to spend on their farms. We were 
told that the land round Crystal City was some of the best in 
Southern Manitoba ; nevertheless a good deal of it was abandoned 
and out of cultivation. At Cartwright we bought some oats for 
our horses at 35 cents (Is. 6|d.) per bushel of 36 lbs. to the 
bushel. I subjoin the following extract from my note -book 
relative to the crops we passed : — 

11.0 a.m. — Open prairie ; grass good. 
11.10 a.m. — Wheat, barley, and oats all good. 
11.45 a.m. — Wheat and barley good, oats good, but bad 
in places. Finished seeding May 26. — 
This farm had been worked two years. 
11.50 a.m. — Barley and oats good ; wheat fair. 
1.30 p.m. — Oats and wheat good. Depth of soil 18 
inches to two feet. 
Close to this last holding we had a talk with a settler, who told 
us that he had cultivated 110 acres for four consecutive years 
with a straw crop ; and found that the best yield had been after 
breaking, the first year ; after four years his crops began to fail, 
and the land now required rest, deeper ploughing, or manuring ; 
— wild buckwheat and lambsquarter weed had made their 
appearance, both being very injurious weeds, — especially the 
latter when allowed to go to seed, His farm certainly looked in 
a terribly wild condition, and the crops were very bad indeed. 

We now came to Pembina crossing, and had to descend into a 
valley, wide at the base, with high banks on each side. We 
crossed the river by means of a very ricketty old bridge ; and, 
ascending the opposite bank, came on some particularly good 
land ; but it appeared in want of rest, having been cultivated 
for five years. The following are my notes on the crops of a 
farm, taken as we drove along : — 

Wheat and potatoes good. 

Oats and wheat, poor. 

Oats, fair. 

Wheat, bad. 

Potatoes, very good indeed. 
A great many weeds, and especially wild buck- wheat, were 
noticeable in the crops. We talked to a settler of five years' standings 



61 

who 'told us that after a certain time, his crops fell off, and that 
weeds -were now getting ahead of him. It will be noticed that 
potatoes were invariably good ; and this I attribute to the extra 
depth of soil turned in planting them, in comparison to what is 
required for wheat, barley, or oats. Soon afterwards we arrived 
at Manitoba " City " — which, at present, consists of one or two 
framed houses, and a tent ; — and this brought our one hundred 
and seventy miles drive to a termination. 

I had intended this to be my last article ; but, finding that it 
would either be too lengthy, or that I should have to curtail my 
account of Manitoba too much, I must reserve a description of 
other interesting parts of this province for another paper, which 
will really be the concluding one ; after that I hope to send a 
reply to the various questions which have been put to me. 



ARTICLE VIII. 



MANITOBA CONTINUED. 



Time and space will not allow me to give a long- account of a 
very interesting drive, which I took from Manitoba City, on a 
" buck board ;" accompanied by an intelligent and prosperous 
farmer. The water in his (thirty feet deep) well was excellent. 
The lands round Manitoba City are of first-rate quality for 
wheat, oats, and barley. I was taken to see what the settlers 
call a stock or grazing farm, not many miles distant ; and which 
I was told was quite a different country to the corn-gTOwing 
lands. I was much interested in what I saw ; but what sur- 
prised me most was the great amount of wild vetch and prairie 
peas, which gi'ow hei'e quite two feet hig-h ; constituting, it is 
said, the best feeding stuff in the Dominion. There were 
immense quantities, utterly unused for want of stock ; the grasses 
were so thick that we could hardly drive thix)ugh them, and the 
vetches (without exagg'eration) almost prevented the wheels 
from turning. Our horse showed his appreciation of the good 
food surrounding him, by continually stopping to have a 
mouthful ; and even my companion, the farmer, expi^ssed his 
astonishment at the luxuriant growth. We saw tracks of 
cattle which had roamed at pleasure ; the whole district, although 
owned by someone, seeming to be unoccupied ; and in places, 
neighbours had cut hay, taking a patch here and thei« as suited 
them best. All this land is only partially stocked for want of 
capital. In choosing a stock farm, it is a good plan to select a 
slough (rather lower and damp ground adjoining more hilly 
lands), so that the cattle can change about from the lower to the 
higher grounds, and from the long to the short grass, and vice 
versa. I saw a good example of this in our drive, but there 
were no cattle to make use of it. In selecting corn-growing 
lands, take high, open, rolling prairie, with some scrub upon it ; 
and, if possible, in a locality where prairie-roses and flowers do 
well, and are found in numbers. Upon making inquiry as to 
what was considered a fair profit to derive from a 160 acre holding, 
I was told that, after paying all expenses, 1,000 dollars (£200) 
per annum should be made. But I need hardly explain that 
this would be successful farming, of which everyone is not 
capable. 

The sight of a well-cultivated garden induced us to 



63 

call at a settler's house, and I noticed there the following 
crops : — 

Potatoes 

Cabbages 

Swedes 

Carrots 

Parsnips 

Beetroot 

Onions 

Parsley 

Wild black-currant 



Gooseberry tti • i i 

/-I J J. y -b airly afood. 

(xarden currant •' ° 



All very good. 



J 



Radish 

Tomatoes 

His farm lands had been cultivated for several years, and 
I found the crops generally bad, from want of cleansing and 
rest. This person's opinion was, that " a man, let him work 
ever so hard, cannot produce the same crops the third and fourth 
year as he can the first and second." In answer to my question 
about which would answer the best; keeping stock, or cropping 
as at present, he replied : — " Stock is the thing ; for the land 
will get poor in time with cropping." It must, of course, be 
remembered, that the above conversation took place with regard 
to only a portion of the province. Potatoes, swedes, or turnips 
would take the place of a summer fallow ; and either of the 
three will act as a cleanser of the soil. The average yield of 
crops in the Manitoba City district is as below : — 

Oats, 60 to 70 bushels per acre — 30 to 50 cents per bushel. 
Barley, 25 to 40 bushels per acre — 30 to 60 cents per bushel. 
Wheat, 30 bushels per acre — 75 cents (3s.) per bushel. 
Potatoes, 250 to 350 bushels (601bs. per bushel) per acre — 

35 to 75 cents per bushel. 

The soil varied from eighteen to twenty-four inches in 
depth. The general opinion seemed to be that it would not pay 
to grow wheat, if one had to haul it raore than twenty-five 
miles ; but in this district the railway is just completed. 

The next day we visited a Mennonite villag'e ; but I can 
here only give a most cursory description of these very interesting 
settlers. They come from Riissia; and, in accordance with their 
faith, will not fight ; the Russian Government therefore gave 
them ten years in which to seek a fresh home. This clemency 
is now cancelled, but thousands had previously availed them- 
selves of the chance ; and, under good guidance, many settled 
here. They occupy some of the finest lands just within the 
boundary of the Red River Valley ; the depth of the soil there 
is three feet, and too good to require manuring for many years. 
Six townships — i.e., thirty-six square miles — were accorded to 
the Mennonites in this part. In this extent they have built 
themselves seventy-five villages, each of which contains from 



64 

ten or twelve to twenty-five farms. Although they are not 
popular among the settlers, I considered their system of farming 
bettar than any I had noticed before, and their crops the best I 
had seen. When once settled, they remain, and look upon the 
place as their home ; farming the land with the intention of 
making the best of it, without any idea of selling and moving 
elsewhere, should an opportunity occur of turning their holdings 
into cash. Indeed, I am not sure they are allowed to sell. Be 
this as it may, they have large herds of cattle, their lands 
produce excellent crops, and they conduct their farming opera- 
tions on a certain system of fallowing, which I failed to see 
elsewhere. They are very good gardeners, and amongst a 
variety of vegetables and flowers I found the following : — 

I, potatoes ; 2, sunflowers; 3, poppies ; 4, nasturtiums ; 5, pinks; 
6, beans; 7, currants; 8, SAveetwilliam; 9, pansy; 10, beetroot; 

II, onions ; 12, Indian pink; 13, scarlet star; 14, marigold; 
15, gooseberry ; 16, lettuce; 17, carrots; 18, French beans; 
19, wild gooseberry; 20, sage; 21, sour krout ; 22, rhubarb; 
23, china aster; 24, mignonette ; 25, caraway seed ; 26, sweetbriar; 
27, Manitoba cherry ; 28, swedes ; 29, hollyhock ; 30, peas ; 
31, horse radish ; 32, vegetable marrow ; 33, cucumber ; 34, 
camomile ; 35, water melon (which does not grow well) ; 36, 
balsam ; 37, roses ; 38, portalack. Attempts have been made to 
rear cotton- wood and poplars, with a view to planting them out 
to grow as fire-wood ; plum trees, dwarf mulberry trees, and 
apple trees, have also been tried ; but the latter do not do well 
in Manitoba. In every case the flowers were beautiful and well 
grown, and the vegetables, on the whole, were very good and 
creditable ; the potatoes being excellent. The Mennonites were 
most friendly ; and followed us about, all anxious to show us 
their homes and gardens, and we soon had the majority of the 
village walking about with us. Their knowledge of the English 
language was not very great ; but their anxiety to show us every- 
thing, and to be friendly, made up for this, and we managed to 
understand each other pretty well. The oldest settler in this 
village has been here eight years. 

The opinion I formed in our 170 miles drive through 
Southern Manitoba is as follows : — It was evident that there 
was a great want of capital amongst the settlers, and that the 
land, to a very large extent, was not being fairly or properly 
treated. From what I could see, a great deal of the country was 
remaining undeveloped ; being held by speculators, who were 
waiting to sell again at a profit. The settlers themselves were 
apparently all, or almost all, of the same class ; holding from 
160 to 320 acres ; which, in the majority of cases, was too much 
for a man with no capital. Nearly all the houses were built on 
exactly the same model; framed wooden houses about twenty- 
foar feet by eighteen feet, and many much smaller; indeed, I 
only saw one instance of an attempt at what we should call a 
farmhouse. Each man is, in reality, a speculator in a small way, 



65 

and ready to sell. Having taken up 160 acres of homestead, and 
the same quantity of pre-emption land, (making 320 acres in all), 
and having settled for three years, he receives a title, and then 
looks round for a purchaser, intending to sell at a profit — 
usually ten dollars (£2) per acre, or more, if he can get it. 
Dui'ing the three years he holds the land, he takes as much out 
of it as possible, and never thinks of fallowing, manuring, or 
cleaning. The crops are usually good for three years ; but (as I 
saw afterwards) even in the second year, weeds begin to grow — 
the most noticeable being wild buckwheat and lambs-quarter ; 
the latter is much like an English dock, and, when it seeds, does 
endless mischief. Of course, the only way to get rid of such 
weeds is to fallow, and kill them before they go to seed, as they 
do not spread from the root ; and, even if the crop is already 
sown, it is worth while to sacrifice it for this object. One could 
form a pretty good opinion how often land had been cropped, 
by a casual glance at the wheat, barley, and oats ; and, if on the 
same farm, the difi^erence could be traced at once. Occasional 
fallowing is absolutely necessary in this country, as weeds grow 
apace ; and so fallowing must be resorted to. Manuring is 
almost out of the question, on account of the small amount of 
stock kept ; — the reasons against large herds being, firstly, want 
of cash ; and, secondly, the long winters, which would entail a 
quantity of buildings, and six months' foddering. Owing to 
their small means, the present race of settlers find it more 
profitable to crop as much as they can ; and, accordingly, each 
year they break and back-set a portion of their 160 or 320 acres ; 
thus gradually diminishing their grass land. At present this 
makes no difference to them, for they can cut hay in the adjoin- 
ing neighbourhood at pleasure ; but, as the country gets filled 
up, this source of supply will be stopped. It appeared to me a 
short-sighted policy to be continually breaking' up good grass 
land, and turning it into tillage, on apparently no system what- 
ever, but just wherever a crop would grow best. The result of 
this must be, that a man with a small holding and a little stock, 
will shortly find he has more tillage-land than he can cultivate 
properly, for want of manure ; and thus, instead of improving, 
the land will deteriorate. Every man was open to making a 
bargain to sell ; and, instead of looking upon his holding as a 
permanent tenure, and a home for the remainder of his life, the 
idea always seemed to be to sell at a profit, and move on else- 
where so as to repeat the process. This sort of thing cannot 
lead to the best methods of cultivation ; but so many of the 
original settlers did so well, and sold their lands at such a 
high profit, previous to, and during the "boom " of 1881-2, that 
others hope to do the same. A great deal of the land 
in Southern Manitoba is undoubtedly of first-class quality, 
and very far superior to any I saw in the North-West Territory ; 
but a great deal of it is a grazing country, and this would, in my 
opinion, be more profitable, now that there is a larger population, 



66 

and hence a greater demand for meat than for wheat-gi^owing. The 
land is not so deep, nor so suitable for wheat, as that in the Red 
River Valley ; but for stock-raising it has, in many parts, great 
advantages, both from its undulating- character, and the number 
of its ponds and creeks. The present settlers have not enough 
capital to invest largely in stock ; but should they eventually be 
able to do so, they will find that their land is so cut up with 
ploughing, that it will be impossible to keep the cattle off the 
crops, without doing a gTeat deal more fencing than would have 
been necessary, had the farrfi been laid out judiciously at first. 
There is very little fencing done at present. 

For my part, I should like to see one or two superior farms, 
of (say) 2,000 to 3,000 acres apiece, in every township ; if this 
class of farming were encouraged, men with more capital would 
be able to adopt a better system, and so set an example to the 
smaller settlers (the majority of whom are not farmers, but 
novices from other trades). This might do a vast amount of 
good, and lead to a diffusion, not only of knowledge, but of dollars ; 
and employment would be obtained for the sons of the poorer 
settlers, for at least a portion of the year. I also think a method 
might be adopted for establishing villages, somewhat on the 
Mennonite principles. The houses are now so far apart 
that they look more like hay stacks, or turf heaps, spread 
over the open prairie, than anything else ; and, unless a 
district becomes thickly populated, the children are thrown 
back for want of education, and there is a great difficulty 
in establishing a church. They say in the States that 
if " a church and a saloon" are started, a population soon 
grows up round them ; and, I believe, in Manitoba, that if a 
district were thrown open for the formation of a village, and a 
chiu^ch and school erected, settlers would soon strive to locate 
themselves within a reasonable distance. 

As i"egards the crops ; wheat, oats, barley, and potatoes grow 
luxuriantly upon the land, when first broken ; and for from one 
to four years afterwards, according to the depth of soil. Potatoes 
especially grow exceedingly well ; I hardly saw a bad crop in all 
Soiithern Manitoba. Cattle thrive on the grasses ; but as to 
sheep, I saw so few of them, and heard so many conflicting 
opinions on the subject, that I was led to assume that they cannot 
do well. A grass called spear-grass grows in most parts, and, 
unless this is cut when young, and the feeding-ground thus cut 
enclosed, it undoubtedly works havoc among the sheep, pene- 
trating through the wool and into the flesh. Whether it actually 
kills sheep, I cannot say, but it is obvious that it must imtate 
them, and prevent their thriving. There was a great deal of 
this spear-grass both in the I^orth-West and in Manitoba, and I 
heard many comj^laints about it. However, I doubt if sheep 
have really been fairly tried ; but it is probable that the same 
reasons of want of capital, and the expense of foddering thena 
through the winter, apply to them, as to cattle. 



67 

The immediate future of Soutliern Manitoba is not so 
encouraging a prospect as it ought to be ; for with such fine 
lands, — easily accessible to Winnipeg by the railway now open to 
Manitoba City, and shortly to be extended west to the Souris, — 
settlers ought to be flocking in. Bat the " land-gTab fever " is 
now over, and has been followed by a decided reaction. So 
much land is held unoccupied and uncultivated, that settlers do 
not feel inclined to come, and buy at a price to pay another man's 
profit ; when, a few miles over the United States border, in 
Dakota, they can procure equally good land, on reasonable and 
liberal terms. By a recent Act, however, lands have been, or rather 
will be, thrown open. In how great a degree this will affect 
Southern Manitoba I am unable to say ; but, as far as I was able to 
judge, I should think that this would be an excellent district for 
emigration and settling, if lands were made obtainable on reason- 
able terms. All the free lands are taken up in Southern 
Manitoba ; therefore a settler in search of them must go fui^ther 
afield. Many farms are not as well cultivated now as formerly ; 
for during the " boom " of 1881-2, numbers of the original 
settlei's sold their land to speculators, and these latter, unable to 
re-sell on account of the re-action in prices, have also failed to cul- 
tivate their purchases ; and thus there are many farms out of 
■cultivation. Again, some of the men who sold, went west, 
expecting to find better land and brighter prospects ; but, 
coming to the same conclusion as I did, they returned disappointed, 
to find no more land obtainable in the old locality, and therefore 
started off for Dakota. This has been told me as an absolute 
fact, and perhaps it will in some measure explain, why so many 
Canadians have of late been reported as leaving Manitoba for the 
States. 

The price of labour in Manitoba is now everywhere much 
lower than it was a couple of years ago, from the artizan to the 
labourer. Men employed in farm-houses get wages averaging 
75 cents (3s.) to 100 cents (4s.) per day, with food and lodging. 
Servant girls are very scarce, and can obtain from 10 dollars 
(£2) to 15 dollars (£3) per month, with food and lodging. The 
average rate of wages of out- door labour in Manitoba, is now 
about 6s. per day (36s. per Aveek), out of which the outgoings 
come to 24s. per week for board and lodging, and 4s. per 
week for washing : so there is not much margin left, especially 
as it must be remembered that during the winter months, 
employment at any price is very hard to get. The long six or 
seven months' winter, beginning in October, sets in finally by 
the 1st November; January and February being the hardest 
months. June is the wet month of the year. 

We visited Winnipeg twee, seeing lands to its north, and 
also to its south, on the banks of the Red River. In my opinion 
there is no land in Canada to be compared to that of the Red 
River Valley. In places it is liable to floods, but on this I 
cannot now dwell ; it is enough to say that here, within fifty 



68 

miles of Winnipeg, I hare seen lands with good soil four to five 
feet deep ; unnoticed, and neglected for settlement, merely on 
account of the rage for going west ; but this is a matter which 
must eventually right itself. I can safely say, that some of this 
land can hardly be surpassed ; on the banks of the river the soil 
is of great depth ; and I do not doubt the fact, which I believe 
some of the old inhabitants can vouch for, that it has been con- 
tinually cropped for from fifty to seventy years. Indeed it is 
the boast of people who extol the advantages of Manitoba, that 
the soil is so good, so deep, and so rich, that it is impossible to 
impoverish it by constant cultivation. I cordially agree as to 
the goodness, richness, and depth of the soil in the Red River 
Yalley ; but as to the possibility of continual cropping, I can 
only say that, whilst on my way to visit a farm not many miles 
from Winnipeg, we passed several holdings in the immediate 
vicinity of this river, all with excellent soil (a deep black loam, 
I do not know how many feet deep, but I assume it to be the 
best and deepest soil in Manitoba), but with as bad farming, as 
poor crops, and as great an amount of thistles, wild oats, and 
other weeds, as ever I saw in my life. This result is, I think, 
not from any want of manure — for I doubt if the land would 
bear maniu'ing for a long time after breaking — but from want of 
ordinary care in fallowing and cleansing. I can assert as a 
positive fact, that some of the crops now produced in this dis- 
trict (which is acknowledged on all hands to possess the finest 
lands imaginable), are most miserable. Some people owning land 
here, are now beginning to reclaim ; and tofarm at a dead loss to 
themselves, what has been so ruined by others. One word more 
as to the depth of the soil in Manitoba and the North- West 
Territory. It is represented as being all deep, the bed of 
an old lake, &c., and no doubt it is something of the 
kind ; bat the soil varies very much in depth and quality 
in various districts, just as it does in any other country ; and it 
must therefore not be taken for granted, because the Red River 
Valley possesses such deep loamy soil, that that throughout the 
whole country is of the same quality, for such an idea is very 
far from the actual fact, and must result in disappointment. I 
have no doubt that a farmer with money and experience, would 
soon double his capital in Manitoba ; but I doubt if he would 
care about commencing after middle life, and I fancy he would 
soon regret the comforts and advantages of Old England. Not 
long ago, the Ontario farmers made an exodus in the direction of 
the New Country ; but many have since returned. The climate 
of Manitoba is much the same as that of the North West ; the 
same long winters, with nothing to do except cutting wood, and 
feeding cattle ; — but it must always be remembered it is a dry cold, 
and, considering the lowness of the temperature, not felt nearly 
so much as it would be with us. A like amount of capital would 
be required for emigration, &c., as that laid down in my sixth 
article ; of course, I do not mean to say but that there are many 



69 

men who have commenced with next to nothing ; but it must 
have been an arduous and uphill task, and one which I can 
hardly recommend ; especially now that all the best lands within 
reasonable distance of a railway are taken up. As I have 
previously suggested, an intending emigrant should take no one's 
advice, but should go and judge for himself as to the various 
localities in which he wishes to settle ; otherwise he is sure to 
be disappointed, in, at any rate, some respects. It may be 
unnecessary to add, that none but those possessed of energy, 
steadiness, and perseverance, and who can make light of dis- 
comforts, would have a chance of success ; — for this applies to 
all emigration in whatever direction. 

With this Article I bring my series to a close ; and I hope 
that, while'some of the numbers have been simply descriptive 
of our travels, and of the lovely scenery we visited in the Far 
West ; my later papers may have furnished interesting and 
practical information, relative to the present state of agriculture 
in some parts of British Columbia, the North West Territory, 
and Manitoba. I have tried simply to describe things as I saw 
them, and to give what information I gathered ; and have no 
thought of endeavouring, in any measure, to restrain the tide of 
emigration which must flow towards these provinces ; but I have 
an earnest desire not to misrepresent facts ; and should anyone 
view these remarks as being worthy of being taken into con- 
sideration, I cannot help thinking that my criticisms would be 
verified by any impartial observer. — Canada must and will 
become a great country ; and her future strength will be derived 
from the vast heritage now thrown open. There are, however, 
many difficulties yet to be overcome, and until capital is 
attracted thither, these will be great : but I hope, and think, that 
in the end they will be surmounted. 



jl.'f:bb21<tidx:k. 



THE LATE Mr. METSEY CLIYE.— Mr. W. HEI^TRY 
BARNEBYS NARRATIVE OF THEIR THREE. 
MONTHS' TOUR. 

November lOth, 1883. 

"We have great pleasure in announcing' that we shall publish in 
the Hereford Times during the next few weeks, beginning 
Saturday, the 24th November, a series of very interesting and 
instructive contributions by Mr. W. Henry Barneby, of Breden- 
bury Couj.'t, in this county, which will be in the nature of a 
journal of the writer's tour in America in the company of the 
late Mr. Meysey Olive. The title of these contributions will 
be : — " Three Months in North America, including a Glance at 
the Far, Far West ; being the outlines of a Trip by three fi'iends 
in 1883." We need say nothing to convince our readers of the 
great and special interest which will be attached to this journal 
of events and impressions, not only because Mr. Barneby's name 
and reputation assure him of an attentive hearing, but also 
because the general subject is one about which the curiosity of 
Englishmen is not easily satisfied, and — last not least — because 
we shall in this way glean some particulars of the closing scenes 
in the life of one who was born and lived amongst us, and who 
had won the respect and alfection of his neighbouis. Mr. Clive, 
it will not be foi^otten, died of fever at Winnipeg on Saturday, 
August 11th, of the present year, having been struck down in 
the fulness of his health and strength. It was not a mere 
pleasure-trip which he had undertaken in conjunction with his 
friends, Mr. Barneby and Mr. Arthur Mitchell, of Corsham. 
The object of all three was to study the agricultural character- 
istics of the country through which they passed, and to learn 
something trustworthy of its capabilities as an emigration field; 
and we have reason to believe that it was Mr. Olive's intention 
to publish the results of his experience for the benefit of English 
farmers, and possible emigrants to the new Oanadian settlements. 
This disinterested task he was not spared to accomplish ; but 
Mr. Barneby, more fortunate, is now able to do what his com- 
panion was prevented from doing, and we may look with 
confident anticipation to the forthcoming journal for a very 
readable account of the tour, and for a seines of facts and views 
calculated ta be of great service to the classes just mentioned^ 
We may rest assui'ed that the disposition and motives of Mr. 



71 

Bai^neby in liis trip with the western pioneers, and in now 
contributing his record to the Hereford Times, have been the 
same as those which actuated the late Mr. Clive. A sincere 
desire to serve his fellow-countrymen was, as we took occasion 
to observe in our obituary notice, a distinguishing mark in the 
character of the deceased ; and it is this mark which oui' readers 
may expect to find reflected in the communications of Mr. 
Barneby. 

The regions traversed by the three friends between May 
and July of the present year, are amongst the most picturesque 
and interesting in the world — rich in the treasures of nature, for 
the most part exceedingly fertile, and everywhere presenting 
f eatui^es of singular and novel beauty. The journey from England 
to Colorado — some six thousand miles of sea and land — must in 
itself have been a rapid and varied panorama of the most 
engrossing kind. Almost every different aspect of the world 
would meet the gaze of the travellers as they crossed from 
continent to continent and from ocean to ocean. The famous 
Colorado canons are the gateways of a second new world beyond 
the first — a new world which attracts the minds of this genera- 
tion of humanity as powerfully as the mysterious east was wont 
to attract the generations that are gone. Prom the plains of 
Utah and the Salt Lake City — the abode of one of the most 
remarkable communities that ever went out into the wilderness 
to seek and obtain their liberty — they would come to the great 
metropolis of the west, to San Francisco, and the Golden Gate 
of the Pacific. California would possess an inexhaustible fund 
of interest for the three Englishmen, so many of whose com- 
patriots have in times past made that country the El Dorado of 
their hopes, if not of their realisations. The Yosemite Valley is 
a marvel of bold scarps and winding slopes, of monstrous trees 
and luxuriant imdergi-owth, of magnificent sheets of water and 
lofty cataracts, surpassing anything of the kind which Europe 
can produce, and impressing every traveller with a sense of its 
vast and novel scenery. Americans are proud of it with good 
reason, and their painters often strive to reproduce its grand 
effects. The remarkable Mariposa Grove lies within easy reach 
of the route to Southern California, where traces of the early 
Spanish settlers surround the visitors on every hand; adding the 
warmth and symbolism of ecclesiastical art to the simpler 
attractions of nature. No long journey by one of the steamers 
which ply the eastern arms of the Pacific Ocean would bring our 
travellers to those young and vigorous offshoots of Anglo-Saxon 
energy, Vancouver Island and British Columbia, where the new 
and old dominions of Englishmen in the Far West smile at each 
other across a few miles of placid sea. Then eastward again 
they would be borne, through Portland and Oregon, by the 
broad Columbia River, and thence, on the straight tracks of the 
Northern Pacific Railroad, across Montana and the far-famed 
Rocky Mountains. Dakota, Manitoba, Winnipeg would now 



72 

greet the sight of Mr. Barneby and his friends ; and here they 
would find themselves in the centre of the virgin plains which 
they had specially come out to see — vast levels of rich agi^icul- 
tural soil, waiting for tillage and harvest, and ready to poiu' its 
abundant wealth into the barns of any enterprising and indus- 
trious man who chooses to put his shoulders to the work. It is 
at this point that the narrative is likely to assume its greatest 
personal interest ; for it was at this stage of his journey that Mr. 
Clive succumbed to an attack of malignant fever, such as many 
times before and since has proved fatal to Englishmen in that 
particular locality. There is manifestly in all this field a wide 
scope for description and comment, for advice and warning ; and 
there is no doubt that Mr. Barneby will fully avail himself of 
the opportunity. He will find thousands of eager readers of his 
recitals, and they, on the other hand, will have a competent and 
disinterested narrator, with no inducement to encourage delusive 
hopes, or to recruit emigrants for any special Company, but 
with the sole desire of testifying what he has seen and heard. 
There can be no necessity to say more by way of introduction 
and recommendation. We prepare the way for Mr. Barneby 
with entire confidence that both his own powers and the attrac- 
tiveness of his subject will constitute his best claim upon the 
attention of our readers. 



Mr. Barneby's American Journal. 

December \st, 1883. 

We publish this week the second of Mr. Barneby's bright and 
spirited contributions, whereof the first was published a week 
ago ; and we wish once more to call the special attention of our 
readers to a series of articles which are not only of great local 
interest but also of wide and general value. In publishing in the 
Hereford Times these copious notes of his tour Mr. Barneby is 
actuated by a public spirit which deserves to be heartily recog- 
nised. He voluntarily takes upon himself a labour equivalent to the 
production of a fair-sized volume, partly, no doubt, in order 
to bear the testimony of friendship to his late neighbour and 
companion in travel, Mr. Meysey Clive, but chiefly for the 
purpose of communicating to intending emigrants the information 
which he has gained in Western Canada and America. The 
nature of this information will already be appreciated from the 
first two articles of the series. The travellers had an eye for the 
land before they looked at anything else. Wherever they went 
it was the soil and its capacities which first attracted them, and 
the scenery itself was inseparably associated in their minds with 
the character of the cultivation. No one can read the contribu- 



73 

tions without being struck by this scrupulous attention to the 
main object which Mr. Barneby has kept in view, and without 
gleaning from them the precise kind of knowledge which a man 
would wish to have before considering the desirability of settling 
in any particular locality. Thus of the neighbourhood of the 
Salt Lake City we are told that " everything looks prosperous • 
the lands are well stocked and irrigated, and thoroughly culti- 
vated to the best advantage." Between Ogden and San 
Francisco " there were mountains in the distance which looked 
as if they ought to carry sheep ; but probably by the end of the 
summer every blade of grass will be burnt up. It was only 
here and there that we saw a patch of cultivated land." 
Colorado " is rich in minerals, but those who meddle with mining 
speculations had better take care not to burn their fingers." It 
is the same throughout ; and we can promise our readers that 
when they come to the articles dealing with other regions to 
which the attention of Englishmen has of late been specially 
invited, they will find yet more detailed and valuable information. 
The correspondence which we publish in another column bears 
witness to the interest which has been created in these personal 
reminiscences amongst readers far removed from each other, and 
regarding the matter from different points of view. We have 
no doubt that any returned traveller from the same part of the 
earth's surface who would be at the pains to tell the story of his 
adventures would be listened to with eagerness by a wide and 
intelligent audience. But the peculiar value of Mr. Barneby's 
notes, as we have already said, is that they are set down by a 
man of culture and discrimination, perfectly unprejudiced, and 
anxious only to acquire and impart such practical details of 
knowledge as would most concern an agricultural emigrant. 
Nor is this task achieved in a mei-ely perfunctory manner, like a 
dry catalogue or a common-place guide book. There is life and 
movement in Mr. Barneby's papers, which make them readable 
in every sense of the word. We are wont to receive dozens of 
books from North America, full of information on many points 
of interest to intending settlers, but tbey are almost invariably 
too gloomy or too glowing in their scope and purpose to be 
received with perfect confidence. The articles which we are now 
printing from week to week exaggerate nothing. They are 
prudent, and at times even a little discouraging ; but they bear 
throughout the stamp of entire good faith and impartiality. 



Mr. Barneby's American Journal. 

January/ 12th, 1884. 

We print this week the eighth and last of Mr. W. Henry 
Barneby's series of articles, entitled " Notes from a Journal in 
North America " — though, as we have already announced, a 



74 

supplementary letter will contain Mr. Barneby's reply to various 
questions put to him by our correspondents during the progress 
of the series. There can be little need for us to enlarge upon 
the special value of these extremely interesting papers, which 
have attracted much attention, and which, we trust, will be 
re-published in a collected form for the use of intending 
emigrants to the North- West. They amply deserve this treat- 
ment, no less for their readable character than for their precise 
and impartial information. We question whether any impre- 
judiced Englishman has ever before supplied such a mass of 
practical and trustworthy detail concerning the agricultural 
provinces of Canada and Columbia. No doabt we have had 
many treatises of a laudatory kind, produced under the direction 
of the Dominion authorities, or at the instance of the large 
railway companies ; but the notes which have been appearing in 
the columns of the Hereford Times for the last two months are 
as far removed as possible from these undiscriminating 
panegyrics, both in their object and in their method. The most 
conspicuous feature in the entire series, from beginning to end, 
has been the scrupulous care of the writer to avoid exaggeration, 
or undue enthusiasm, or mere unthinking praise which might 
lead only to disappointment and disaster. Where the quality of 
the land, or the climate, or the i^esources of any particular 
district unquestionably deserved to be praised, praise has not 
been wanting ; but Mr. Barneby has not hesitated to warn his 
readers against dangers and drawbacks which a less candid 
writer might have slurred over, but which it is of the utmost 
concern for every emigrant to know. We may point for an 
instance to the observations in the eighth article on the differ- 
ence between the soil in the Red River Valley and the soil in 
Western Manitoba — which undoubtedly justifies Mr. Barneby's 
deprecation of " the rage for going west." It may readily be 
understood that these papers will have brought disillusion to 
minds which have been carried away by the glowing accounts of 
emigration agents, and that they will have the effect of keeping 
at home men who were all but determined upon trying their 
fortunes in the New World. Yet on the other hand there is so 
much that is really attractive in the description of the deep 
black soils of certain parts of Canada, and of the luxuriant 
herbage, and rich pasture lands, and abundant vegetation, and 
cheap food, and possibilities of handsome profits in some of the 
most favourable localities, that it would not be surprising if 
many of oiir readers had received a new impulse to emigrate by 
the perusal of these careful and judicious notes. 

We must congratulate Mr. Barneby very sincerely on the 
success of his efforts to utilise his voyage to America for the 
benefit of his fellow-countrymen, and on the deep interest he has 
contrived to give to a simple narative of facts. The writing of 
these articles has manifestly been for him a labour of love, and 
his reward will consist in the consciousness that he has 



75 

performed without fee a public service of no raean order to the 
community of which he is a member. The great drawback to 
all schemes of emigration, and to emigration in each individual 
case, is the want of exact knowledge contributed by perfectly 
disinterested and unprejudiced persons, without which it can never 
be wise or safe to exchange the ills we have for others that we 
know not of. Mr. Barneby has supplied knowledge of this kind 
which cannot fail to be widely acceptable and useful ; and it is 
right that his public spirit should be recognised. The interest 
taken by our readers in his contributions has been manifest and 
sustained. The letters which have been addressed to us, though 
they make more or less demand upon ]\Ir. Barneby 's good nature, 
and impose upon him some additional labour, will doubtless be 
accepted by him for what they actually are — a spontaneous 
compliment and testimony of appreciation. It may always be 
assumed, when a certain number of letters reach the office of a 
newspaper in reference to anything which has appeared in its 
columns, that the interest called forth by the original contribu- 
tion has been general and considerable. This has been the case 
with Mr. Barneby's " Notes," which we have placed before our 
readers with great satisfaction, and which have been welcomed 
by them as a truthful and lively record of interesting facts. 



LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 

Sir, — It was with mucli pleasure that I heard of Mr. W. 
Henry Barneby's intention to publish in your widely-circulated 
Hereford Times an account of his visit to America with the late 
Mr. Meysey Clive and Mr. Arthur Mitchell. 

Mr. Barneby states that the information which his friends 
and himself endeavoured to collect related " more especially " 
to " farming and emigi'ation," and that he hopes what he 
intends publishing may be useful to emigrants. In this respect 
the articles will indeed be valuable, for a man of Mr. Barneby's 
character, combined with his sound judgment, will be certain to 
furnish a fair and reliable statement as to what came under his 
observation. Accurate and trustworthy information as to the 
vast regions of " Canada and the North- West " is greatly needed 
just now. Professor Tanner's contribution to the subject — 
which I am glad to see you are publishing in the Hereford 
Times — is a valuable one ; and though it paints the agricultural 
advantages of Canada in glowing colours, and so flatly contra- 
dicts many reports received, it is difficult to doubt its truth and 
reliability, coming from such a source. It whets one's appetite, 
however, for more information on the question, and increases the 
interest in Mr. Barneby's articles. 

I cannot help remarking on the pity that more country 
gentlemen do not turn their foreign travels to some practical 
and publicly useful account, as Mr. Barneby has done. For 
myself, ill-health has confined my trips to the shores of the 
Mediterranean. Take this instance of Canada alone for an 
example. How many mistakes might have been avoided, doubts 
removed, and benefits secured, if only a portion of the tourists 
who have travelled through Canada had made a point of 
obtaining the best information procurable on the condition of 
the country as an emigrant land, and laid it before their 
countrymen on their return. The effort would not have detracted 
from the pleasure of their excursions, but rather added to it ; 
and they would have won the cordial thanks of their fellow- 
countrymen. I only hope Mr. Barneby's example will be 
widely followed. Public gratitude will wait upon every 
endeavour of the kind, and as one of the public I desire to tender 
to Mr. Barneby my heartiest thanks for the valuable work he 
has undertaken. 

A LANDLORD. 

Herefordshire, November 28th, 1883. 



Sir, — I confess that nothing in my Hereford Times of last 
week attracted me so much, or gave me so much pleasure to 



77 

read, as Mi'. Barneby's first paper on his N"orth American tour. 
I am sure I shall be expressing the opinion of thousands when I 
say that these "notes from a journal" are calculated to be 
extremely valuable to intending emigrants, and unusually 
interesting in themselves. It happened that one of my friends 
started the subject of emigration about an hour after I had read 
Mr. Barneby's paper, and there can be no doubt that the experi- 
ence of a competent and impartial observer, as Mr. Barneby 
manifestly is, will be widely interesting, and provide a safer 
guide than either the glowing accounts of the emigration agents 
or the despairing tales of men who have been to the Far West 
and come back disappointed. 

If Mr. Barneby will not think that I am taking too great a 
liberty, I should like to mention some points on which trust- 
worthy information is especially needed by men who are con- 
templating a move to the New World. I have no doubt that he 
will have something to say about them all, though, of course, it 
is possible that one or more of them may be outside the scope of 
his notes. The friend to whom I have referred was concerned 
about the fortunes of a family whom he is assisting to emigrate. 
At present they incline towards Manitoba, but they have not 
made up their minds. The questions we were considering are 
these : — 

(1) In what parts is the soil most fit, by its character and 
condition, for plough-culture ? 

(2) At what rate could it be bought ? And could it be 
rented, without buying ? 

(3) Would there be an opening near an arable farm of this 
kind for a smart " vet." — that is to say, would the 
population be likely to be thick enough, within a day's 
ride, to provide such a man with plenty of work ? 

I am aware that it is difficult to answer questions of this 
kind, and perhaps impossible to answer the last of them. Most 
experience has to be bought ; but, at any rate, I can assure Mr, 
Barneby that every detail of information will be eagerly and 
thankfully received at a time when so many active men are being 
driven to seek their fortunes outside their native country, and 
are perfectly willing to turn their hands to downright hard 
work. The first plunge is often more important than the straight 
swimming which follows ; and Mr Barneby's very pleasant notes 
will be immensely useful if they include some plain tips for plain 
men on such points as I have mentioned. 

OBSERVER. 

Church Stretton, Salop, November 26th, 1888.^ 



Sir, — Seeing in your Hereford Times of last week a number 
of letters on the above subject, and especially one from 
" Observer," asking some questions on behalf of intending emi- 
grants, I venture to reply to the latter, as I have some knowledge 



78 

of several of the Western States and Manitoba, from a residence 
of several months in an English Colony in Iowa, and from a 
visit to the North- West made in the spring of 1880. 

There is undoubtedly a good opening for many a man, both 
in the States and Manitoba, if he is possessed of energy, some 
moderate amount of capital, and is willing to turn his hand to 
work of all kinds connected with agriculture. If he is accom- 
panied by a wife and young family, for the first year he will find 
many discomforts, and probably living* expensive, unless he can 
obtain a berth with house on a farm to go into direct from Eng- 
land. If single, there is little difficulty in obtaining work upon 
a farm at once, and soon earning more than sufficient to pay his 
way — supposing he can cheerfully put up with hard work, rough 
living, and poor accommodation till he sees a chance to better 
himself. I will, however, confine my remarks mainly to, in some 
measure, answering " Observer's " three questions. 

First — As to the part of the country "where the soil is fittest, 
by its character and condition, for plough-culture." The soil 
generally in Iowa, Minnesota, Dakota, and Manitoba is all most 
excellent for plough culture. Of course, in parts there are what 
are termed " bluff lands," meaning hilly and rocky districts 
suited mostly for running sheep or cattle, just as the soil varies 
in every county in England (and each State, remember, is as 
large an area usually as the whole of England — some larger), 
but the generality of the soil in the State or Province above 
mentioned is a rich, deep loam, most easily turned up with a pair 
of light horses of the stamp that we use in a one-horse brougham, 
or by the sulky plough, when three horses are di'iven abreast, 
and from three to four acres ploughed by one man in a day. It 
is not so much a question of soil as of climate and location and 
the style of farming that the emigrant desires. Few grain 
growing districts, if any, can surpass Manitoba, but you must be 
prepared for seven months of winter here, and the severity of 
the climate during the winter months is such as to make it 
necessary to house animals and feed them on artificials ; so that 
most practical farmers will see at a glance that it is' ill-suited 
for stock-raising purposes beyond an immediate supply for the 
district. 

Manitoba is under British rule, which has a charm for most 
Englishmen ; but I am inclined to think that in some respects, 
from the emigrant farmer's point of view, who looks at the 
country mainly from its money-making capabilities, this is more 
than a doubtful advantage — much as I regret to have to state 
this. In the States you have readier markets for your produce 
and much greater facilities for getting youi* produce to a 
market, for the Yankees have been much more energetic in 
pushing their railway system through the country than the 
Canadian Government, and it is seldom now in the States 
I have mentioned that farms are more than ten or twelve 
miles from a railway station. At most places that can boast of 



79 

a few hundred inhabitants in the States dealers are to be found 
who will purchase stock, or grain, or hay, to be compressed on 
the spot by weight, or, if you prefer it, you can generally ship 
them yourself direct to Chicago, which has one of the finest (if 
not the best) stock markets in the world, covering an area of 
345 acres, divided out in pens, where public auctions daily take 
place, and the returns are regularly published in the leading 
newspapers. 

These are undoubted advantages for farmers in favour of 
the States over Manitoba, though the latter is annually becoming 
more settled up and the Canadian Pacific Railway has been now 
pushed some 300 miles or more westward of Winnipeg since my 
visit in 1880. Both Dakota and Minnesota are grand wheat- 
growing States, though not, as a rule, quite equal to the Red 
River Valley and many parts of Manitoba. Here, too, the 
winter is severe, though not of quite so long a duration as further 
north. All sorts of grain do well in these States, but you must 
go further south if yon wish to cultivate maize as your staple 
(U'op, and carry on in conjunction with it cattle and hog farming. 
Iowa, I believe, now takes the lead of the Amercan States in this 
branch of agricultural business, and in it the Indian corn flourishes 
most luxuriantly ; but even here you may experience, as I did in 
1881, six months of wintei, with snow four feet deep on the 
ground. Yet, as in the South of England that lies in the same 
latitude, that same year such a winter was the exception, and it is 
seldom that the inhabitants of Iowa require to use their rough 
sleighs abi)ve one winter in four. In the North-Wt^stern portion of 
the States, from Sioux City northwards for nearly 100 miles, will be 
fouud now a flourishing colony of young Englishmen, many of 
them members of our leading county families, who have settled in 
this district under the auspices of Messrs. Benson and Close 
Bros., of Cambridge University boating renown, and whose offices 
in London are at 4, Bishop.sgate-street Within. An application to 
these gentlemen for information on the purchase of land, when 
an investment in this direction is desired, will not be in vain either 
in England or America ; but their work lies more among the 
capitalists a=5 agents for the sale of lands belonging to the St. Paul 
and Sioux City Railway Company than in directly aiding intending 
emigrants. 

With regard to " Observer's " second question, as to "What 
rate can land be bought at, or rented without buying ? " it is 
difficult, perhaps, to give quite a satisfactory answer. 
Land everywhere varies in price according to location and 
present circumstances. At times, when things are "booming," 
as the Yankees term it, prices go up, but there is generally a 
re-action, even in the most flourishing colonies. My experience 
has led me to the conclusion that improved farms with house 
and shedding upon them can generally be purchased at a much 
cheaper rate than raw prairie lands, and then placing the 
improvements upon them. The American, as a rule, is a restless 



80 

creature, and many of tiiem are always ready to sell out for 
cash payments and go further west at a iew days' notice. I 
would, however, recommend no emigrant to pi rchase land until 
he has been resident some months in the count; y, and has learnt 
something of the waj^s of the inhabitants, unless he has an adviser 
on whose judgment he can thoroughly depend. N'ot a bad plan is 
to rent a farm, with the option to jjurchase, whe e it can be done ; 
but when the person wishes to sell out and be ou, of course this is 
out of the question. 

Farms of eighty acres and upwards can genei^illy be bought, 
with house and stable upon them, from eight dollars to fifteen 
dollars per acre — that is fram 30s. to £3, but the price is regulated 
according to the proximity of the farm to a railway station or town, 
and the amount ot liuildings upon it, with water advantages. The 
usual size of farms is from eighty to three hundred and twenty 
acres. The whole country is surveyed out in square miles, or 
sections ot six hundred and forty acres, on the border lines of which 
are reserved two perch from every section for a roadway. In a 
farm of three hundred and twenty acres, probably a considerable 
portion is hay-land, and not under culture. Farms can always be 
rented upon lease or by the year. Cash payments for rent are not 
yet the general custom, but rent takes the form of a sliare of the 
crop, which after all is perhaps the fairest plan, as it is the oldest, 
though ill-suited to cai)italists who invest in land, as their returns 
in kind require more labour to collect and dispose ot than the 
cash-''ent system. If a tenant finds his own seed, the more usual 
rent is one-third of the crop ; but if the owner of the land finds the 
seed, he exacts half the crop as rent. But all this is a matter for 
agreement upon entering on a tenancy. 

And now for a word in answer to " Observer's " third queiy 
about a practice for a "smart vet." My experience would not lead 
me to hold out great expectations to any such. It is quite possible 
that in this matter I may be mistaken, but the residence for such 
persons, it seems to me, should be in a town — that is, a centre — 
rather than vipon a farm where time can ill be spared for such 
work without neglecting more important business at home. Animals* 
lives are not regarded of sufficient value in colonial life generally 
for men to go to much expense on their behalf, and most practical 
farmers are their own vets, as they are their own butchers, for all 
ordinary purposes. At the same time, work of this kind may 
spring up in the more settled districts, but I should be sorry to 
hold out hopes in this direction without some further experience or 
knowledge than I have had of it. 

H. P. MAERIOTT DODINGTON. 

Little Birch, E,o.ss, December 5th, 1883. 



Sir, — I read Mr. Barneby's graphic account of his visit to the 
Yosemite Valley with deep intei-est. It is seldoii that one meets 
with a finer bit of word painting — tine in its combined vigour and 
simplicity. Mr. Barneby has certainly filled me with an intense 



81 

desire to visit this natural arboretum, but I fear that the cost of 
such a visit would be tremendously heavy. I notice that Mr. 
Barneby speaks of the living, &c., as being " very dear." I suppose 
that his et cetera is meant to include the cost of travelling and 
other daily outgoings. But I should be glad if Mr. Barneby would 
give me some sort of notiou as to the cost of a visit to the Yosemite 
Valley. I should not think of going unless ] could be accompanied 
by my wife ;and so I will venture to formulate my questions thus : 
(I) Could a lady travel with comfort] (2) Are there any dangers 
to be encountered from snakes or wild beasts ? (-3) How long 
would the journey take from the date of leaving England up to the 
date of arriving back in this country ; — the journey to be taken in 
comfortable stages, but not unduly prolonged? (4) What would 
be about the cost of the whole for two persons for the time neces. 
sary to accomplish the expedition ; Mr. Barneby stating what he 
considers to be the necessary time ? And (5) would the cost of 
taking servants be in the same proportion to one's own expenses as 
it is in England. 

J. w. s. 

Preston, Lancashire, December 11th, 1883. 



Sir, — I shall be obliged to you if you will allow me to submit 
the following questions to Mr. Barneby through your columns : — 
Would the country north of Sacramento, where it is well watered, 
be suitable for a gentleman of sixty years, in full health and vigour, 
with a very large family, and possessing £6,000 for immediate 
investment % Would he get a fair return for his money ? And 
would Mr. Barneby advise his emigration ? 

ONE TOO MANY. 

Hereford, December 20th, 1883. 

Sir, — I am glad that Mr. Barneby* in his excellent articles, 
freely ]»oints out the drawbacks to the districts through which he 
passed in America. For example, he remarks (in Article No. 4) 
that the drawback to the Los Angelos district, and to other parts 
of California, is the difficulty of obtaining water for irrigation 
purposes. And is ic not a scientitic fact that the cutting down of 
forests (so extensively proceeding in America) tends to diminish 
the rainfall ? The cei-tainty of diy Aveather is undoubtedly a great 
advantage to the farmers, but there is a point where ai3sence of 
rain becomes a serious evil. California is as yet far i-emoved from 
the great centres of emigrant settlements, but there may be other 
parts of America where similar drawbacks do not exist. If he has 
met with any, will Mr. Barneby kindly mention them? In the 
midst of so much indiscriminate " puffing " of North America, 
farmers like to be well informed upon these points. 

LOOKING WEST. 

Berkeley, Gloucestershire, December 19th, 1883. 



82 

Sir, — In your Hereford Times of last week a few questions 
are put to Mr. Barneby resi)ecting Upper California, north of the 
Sacramento, by " One Too Many." As Mr. Barneby does not 
seem to have travelled north of the Sacramento, he is probably 
unable, from personal observation, to give the information 
required. 

I am what is termed in San Francisco one of the '' Forty- 
niners," having landed in that city the latter part of the year '49. 
The city at that time was a perfect gaming hell, filled up with the 
greatest scoundrels from nearly all countries. My stay there was 
short. In company with two friends we started on our voyage up 
to Sacramento City, a distance of about 180 miles. It was difficult 
to get a passage on a steam-boat, so we took the first opportunity 
that offered, and paid eight dollars each for our passage on a 
handsome little schooner. Our little craft made good running up 
the magnificent chain of bays, but when we came to the Sacramento, 
river proper our difficulties began. • The first day on the river we 
came to what was called the swamp. The wind died awaj^, and 
left us at the mercy of myriads of the largest and most vivacious 
raosquitos that I ever saw in any jmrt of the world. At dusk we 
tied our little craft to a tree, and tried to get some rest — a thing 
that was altogether out of the question ; all that we could do was 
to try and cover our hands and faces, a^nd a}X)sti''ophise the 
mosquitoes in, I fear, not very orthodox language. Tliirty-four 
years have passed av^ay, but I have a lively recollection of that 
night yet. On the following day we noticed the river swarmed 
witli salmon (two years later the nets and steam paddle had denuded 
the river of fish). We eventually arrived at Sacramento City, and 
had a good look round ; we considered it a very nice place, with 
the exception that it was built on very low ground, which the 
inhabitants found to their sorrow when the great inundation 
came. 

From Sacramento to Stockton there is a wide sti-etch of 
country, a great part requiring irrigation, and not, in my ojiinion, 
a desirable district to settle in. North of Sacramento the country 
is fairly well watered, and the climate is. nearly all that can be 
desired. The flora is magnificent ; game abounds, viz., deer, hares, 
rabbits, and quail ; thei'e are also great varieties of humming birds, 
the most beautiful little things imaginable, from the American 
Biver to the Yuba and Feather Biver. The country is very 
mountainous, with little to be seen but a scanty herbage ; the 
common pine tree of enormous girth and height, prickly chapperell, 
and gigantic rocks. There are hundreds of thousands of acres 
skii'ting the Sierra Nevadas, that, in my opinio-n, will never enrich 
the husbandman. There are some |>atches of bottom land, very 
rich in soil, but frequently rather swampy and liable to floods. 
The rattlesnake is rather too plentiful, and a most dangerous 
reptile to cope with. In the year '52 a friend of mine, from the 
State of New Jersey, at a place called Beales Bar, on the American 
River, shot a bii*d. The bird fell in some thick grass ; lie went to> 



83 

pick it up ; lie heai-J tlie rattle of a snake ; instead of taking to his 
heels he persisted in securing his bird ; result — the snake struck 
him on the left leg. He had with him about one pound of 
American Cavendish tobacco, and ate it all, got to his tent, lay for 
two days in a stupor ; when the narcotic had exhausted itself he 
woke up, and died almost immediately. But for the tobacco, 
probably, he would not have lived forty minutes. 

If the soil of Upper California north of Sacramento wag 
equal to the climate, it would be the most desirable place to settle 
in that I have ever seen, but seeing the soil lacks what an agricul- 
turist requires, it is a most undesirable place. And why should an 
Englishman degrade himself by taking a naturalisation oath, 
wherein he swears to fight against all enemies of the United States, 
especially the Queen of Great Britain, when he has superior fields 
open to him where the Union Jack of Great Britain always floats 1 
I would say to those that must make a move, " Don't go to North 
America — i.e., the most Northern States, or the Dominion of 
Canada, for no man can relish being half-roasted one-half of the 
year and frozen the other half." If " One Too Many " will think 
of Lord Macaulay's Prophetic Vision it may cause him to turn his 
face to the south, and take a trip to the Antipodes. Forty days' 
passage through the Canal will land him on the largest island in 
the world, where there is at this time as good a chance for a pushing 
man as ever existed at any period, particularly in Queensland, 
where everything will grow that can be ':;rown on the Continent of 
America. To " One too Many " I say, " Queensland should be 
your home, but it will be a martyrdom to yourself and enrichme nt 
to your family." Those who have lived in distant lands know 
well what Sir Walter Scott felt when he wrote : — 



" Breathes there a man with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said. 
'Tnis is my own, my native land." 



Argoed, Doldowlod, Radnorshire, 
December 26th, 1883. 



D. LLOYD. 



Sir, — I read in your Hereford Times oi December 29th, 1883, 
a few notes written by Mr. W. Henry Barneby, taken from his 
journal of North America, and, being a settler in the North- West, 
I was very much interested in them, but I should like to make a 
few i-emaiks on one or two of his statements. Mr. Barneby says 
that he would not advise any emigrant, married or single, to start 
on a less sum than ,£300, and he then proceeds to state how a 
settler might start on such a sum. 

As I have had three years' experience in the country, two 
years of which were passed in the North- West, I hope you will 
allow me a small space in which to give my experience as to the 
best way, in a monetary point of view, for any emigrant to start 
farming. 

Any single man who thoroughly understands farming can 



84 

no doubt start on £300, but lie will have to be very careful how 
lie invests his money. According to Mr. Barneby's letter, a man 
might imagine that he can go out to the North- West and imme- 
diately take up his homestead and begin to plough, and have his 
house and stable built in a few days ; whereas when a man first 
arrives at Winnipeg he is told of all sorts of places, some near 
the railway, and others very far removed from it, and he naturally 
gets very puzzled as to where is the best place. 

Well, suppose he sets his mind on one particular place, near 
the railway, but, as it is bound to be now, a long way west of 
Winnipeg ; in all probability, when he first sees it, he will think 
it would be very foolish of him to take it up, without first seeing 
what the other places he has been told of are like ; he will then 
go and look at them, which is a proceeding that any sensible man 
who intends taking a farm, perhaps for life, would most decidedly 
do. Now all this takes a good deal of time and money, and 
makes a great hole in his original sum, £300. Of course to a 
married man, with his wife, any one can see that this course, 
and the only sensible one, would cost a great deal too much money. 

Now I should like to say a few words concerning the actual 
expenditure of starting a farm (according to Mr. Barneby) : — 



Homestead fee ... 




£2 (160 acres) 


Pre-emption 




32* 


House and stables 




60 


Oxen 




50 


Wagon 




16 


Plough 




5 


Furniture and farm 


tools 


20 


Journey for two ... 




40 


Two cows 




30 


Food for two 




60 



£315 
This is the principal statement that I really do not understand, 
unless he intends that the settler should borrow some money at 
the very beginning of his new career. 

For anyone who intends to start I think the following state- 
ments of expenses will be useful ; but 1 recommend a man to 
leave his wife behind him until he has settled on his land and 
built a house : — 

Journey to Winnipeg ... ... ... ...£20 

Homestead fee ... ... ... ... ... 2 

House and stables ... ... ... ... 60 

Plough " ^ 5 

Oxen 60 

Food for one year ... ... ... ... 30 

£167 
Incidental expenses, harness, finding land, &c. 20 

£187 
* Since corrected to £80. See footnote to Article VI., page 49. 



85 

Leaving a balance of £113 with which to carry on his farm for 
the following year. This manner of starting would of course 
entail a great deal of hard work and hard living ; but no man, 
let him go to whatever country he likes, can live in clover at 
first, unless he has a large capital. I have purposely made no 
mention of either a pre-emption, wagon, mower, or rake (horse 
power), because I think the settler can best choose for himself on 
such matters ; but I will give the cost of these, in order that he 
may not be overcharged : — 

160 acres pre-emption fee ... ... £2 

To be paid for in 3 years at 10s. per acre 80 
Wagon ... ... ... ... ... 16 

Mower ... ... ... ... ... 18 

Rake ... ... ... ... ... 8 



£124 
From my own experience I should say a man ought to go out to 
work on a farm for a year, so that he may learn the customs and 
manners of the people around him ; and also in that time he very 
likely will know where he had better settle ; and last, but not 
least, make a considerable increase in his capital. 

A word as to there being no call for labourers at present. 
Wages are enormously high — about £5 per month with board 
and lodging. If a number of men go out, wages no doubt will 
drop a little ; but there will still be an immense demand for 
men, and even allowing wages to drop to £3 per month, with 
board and lodging, sarely this leaves great inducements to young 
men who could work for a few years and then start as farmers. 
Compare this to a labourer's prospects in England ! 

As regards the land in Manitoba having been neglected, 
allow me to inform you, sir, that the private speculators and 
land-jobbers both of this country and Eastern Canada are the 
cause of this neglect, and, in the opinion of all classes resident 
in the country, are a perfect curse, as they keep out bona fide 
settlers who naturally would like to take better land, and 
nearer the older settlements. 

G. C. BATTISCOMBE. 

Woodlands, Glasbury, Radnorshire, R.S.O., and of Glan 
Llyn, Indian Head, North- West Territory, Canada, 
January 3rd, 1883. 



Sir, — As nay son left on Saturday last for his farm in the 
North- West Territory of Canada, he will be unable to notice Mr. 
Barneby's remarks that appeared in the Hereford I'imes of that 
day. It is, therefore, only fair to ask you to let me say that he 
noticed the three statements in Mr Barneby's Journal for this 
reason : The Hereford Times is so extensively read, and he is so 
very anxious to get Welshmen to emigrate (he having the high- 
est opinion of them as emigrants), that, as Mr. Barneby made 
the procedure of taking up land apparently too easy, he was 



86 

anxious to do a little towards preventing' disappointment, and 
possible disaster, to emigrant farmers. He also thouglit that 
Mr. Barneby's remarks about tliere not being a call for labourers 
might check that which he and all who are farming in the 
North- West of Canada desire so much — i.e., the emigration of 
labourers, and, as far as my son is concerned, especially from 
these Welsh counties. 

As to the statement about land not being taken up in 
Manitoba as much as it might be, my son was glad to have a hit 
at those rich men in England who have done so much mischief 
by buying up the best lands, and holding them until men who 
have made money by hard work are compelled to buy these lands 
at a large profit to the original purchaser. This causes great 
injury to the Colony, as some of the best lands are kept out of 
cultivation. 

A. BATTISCOMBE. 

Woodlands, Glasbury, January 23rd, 1884. 



Sir, — During the time you were publishing Mr. Barneby's 
narrative, a correspondent asked some questions about a district 
north of Sacramento. Seeing by his narrative that Mr. Barneby 
had not travelled that district, I ventured to give some descrip- 
tion of it in your Hereford Times of December 29th. Since then 
I have been frequently asked questions by letter and otherwise 
respecting Mr. Barneby's narrative. I take this opportunity to 
inform all that may be concerned to know, that, from past 
experience, I know his narrative to be stamped with truth ; and 
it should be remembered that it requires no small amount of 
moral courage to tell the whole truth, in the face of the many 
and varied interests centred in North America at this time. The 
public are greatly indebted to Mr. Barneby for the knowledge 
he has imparted — knowledge that will take months and the 
expenditure of hundreds of pounds for anyone to acquire practi- 
cally. 

D. LLOYD. 
Argoed, Doldowlod, Radnorshire, 
January 30th, 1884. 



MR. BARNEBT'S REPLIES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

Sir, — In your last issue I brought to a conclusion the 
articles which I had undertaken to contribute to the Hereford 
Times ; in fact, I have so far trespassed upon your space as to 
send two papers in excess of my original intention ; bat, owing 
to the large extent of country traversed, it has been impossible 
to compress the leading facts into a smaller limit. I trust that 
the perusal of these articles will not have proved wearisome to 
those of your readers who may have given them their attention. 

I now send the replies, as promised, to several correspond- 
ents who have sought further information. 

As regards "Observer's" inquiries of December 1st, Mr. 
Marriott Doddington, has, in his excellent letter, answered the 
main points, and I very much appreciated his contribution ; I 
am not, however, aware what parts of Manitoba and the North- 
West that gentleman has visited, so I will proceed to answer 
" Observer's " questions to the best of my ability, trusting that 
he will understand that any views I may express are not 
intended to be antagonistic, and do not necessarily apply to the 
same districts. (1). As stated in my Article No. VI., the best land 
in the North- West for plough culture (so far as I have seen or 
heard) extends from Edmonton and Prince Albert on the north, 
to Qu'Appelle and Brandon (in Manitoba) on the south ; 
some of the lands north of Qu'Appelle being still open for 
settlement. (For signs of good land, <fec., in selecting farms, see 
Article YIII). In Manitoba, I should recommend the southern 
division and the Red River Valley, but especially the latter. 
(2). I should say from five to fifteen dollars (£1 to £3) per acre 
would be the price asked for ordinary settled lands. The 
Railway Company offers its lands at two and a half dollars ; and 
different Companies have their own prices, with a rebate on 
settlement. Renting land is a practice not much resorted to ; 
when it is done, it is generally on the share principle of dividing 
the crops. (3). I do not think that there would be any opening 
in the country, near an arable farm, for a smart vet. ; or, at any 
rate, not sufficient to bring him in a practice worth having. I 
am sorry that I cannot give a more hopeful reply than this ; 
but the houses are usually so far apart that it would take a good 
many very long days' rides to provide such a man with adequate 
work, even if his services were required at all. In or near a 
town, a practice worth having might possibly be obtained ; but 
probably, in the present state of things, the supply in this 
profession is equal to the demand. 

In reply to " J. W. S.," writing from Preston, Lancashire, 
as to the expense of a visit to the Yosemite : — In the Valley itself 
the cost of living is dear, say, £1 per day; and those who have 



88 

to employ horses or carriages for their excursions (instead of 
going on foot as we did) will, of course, find this a considerable 
addition to their items. I may mention incidentally that boot- 
blacking costs Is. per pair, and charges for washing linen are 
very high — as, indeed, they are at all American hotels. (1). A 
lady could visit the Tosemite Valley with comparative comfort 
if she did not mind the inconvenience of very rough roads and 
long hours of travel, say twelve hours a day on an uncomfortable 
stage coach. (2). There are no dangers to be encountered from 
" snakes or wild beasts " so long as the frequented paths are 
kept to ; but we were cautioned not to go too much amongst the 
brush wood for fear of coming across a rattlesnake; as undoubtedly 
there are some of these about. However, with average caation 
there is nothing to fear. (3). The length of time required to 
make a journey direct from England to the Yosemite would be — 
Liverpool to New York, say ten days ; New York to San 
Francisco, say six days and nights ; San Francisco to the Yose- 
mite two days (including stoppages at night to rest). Leaving 
San Francisco on a Monday afternoon, one would reach the 
Yosemite on the following Wednesday afternoon. Ten days 
should be allowed for a visit to the Yosemite Yalley (although 
it can be done in a week), including the journey from San 
Francisco, and returning there again. If the Yosemite were the 
sole object, the journey there and back from England could be 
made in a little under two months, allowing for comfortable 
stages ; but I should recommend three months, so as to see other 
places of interest as well. The second or thii\i week in May is 
the best time to visit the Valley. (4). The cost for one person 
would be — From Liverpool to New York, say £20 (food included) ; 
New York to San Francisco about £27 (food not included) ; food 
and incidental expenses, say £5 ; San Francisco to the Yosemite 
and back, about £12 (travelling expenses only). (5). Servants 
would, I think, be found great incumbrances, and the cost for 
the railway journey and coach to the Yosemite would be the 
same as for their employers. The charge for them for the 
passage across the Atlantic would be slightly, but not much, less 
than for oneself ; and thus for the whole journey the expense 
would be higher in proportion than in England. 

In reply to " One too Many," in the Herefcyrd Times of 
December 22nd ; although I have been to Sacramento, a much 
fuller and abler i^eply to his questions has already been furnished 
by Mr. D. Lloyd, who appears to have known the country 
intimately. Sacramento is now a rising place, and some of the 
lands between it and San Francisco are of a superior description 
for wheat growing ; but of the country to the north of this in 
California, I know nothing. I should fancy that there were other 
openingsin California where "OnetooMany " could do better, buti 
have no means of judging whether he could get a fair return for 
his money, and I should be sorry to advise what might prove to be 
a disappointment. All the same I should like to say, that for a 



LoiQ. 



89 

person sixty years of age, although now in full health and vigour, 
the complete change of climate, habits of life, &c., and the 
discomforts which must at first be met with, are a serious con- 
sideration. I may safely add that in Southern California there 
is much apparently waste land now being converted, by means of 
irrigation, into excellent vineyards and orange groves ; and 
comfortable houses are rapidly springing up. The climate, 
although rather warm in summer, is delicious in the winter. 
Here " One too Many" might make himself a comfortable home, 
and possibly with judgment might turn his money to account. 
The lands are rapidly increasing in value ; but I fancy there 
are many places on the western slopes of the Sierra Madre 
Mountains, not far from San Gabriel Station on the Southern 
Pacific Railway, where they may still be procured at a fair price. 
However, in every case, a good water supply from the mountains 
must be the foremost consideration, as land without it is prac- 
tically useless for either a vineyard or an orange-grove. 

In reply to " Looking West," there are many parts of 
America where the drawbacks alluded to as regards California 
do not exist ; it is, however, difficult to know exactly what 
" Looking West " requires. Assuming that he wishes for 
a wheat farm in the States, he cannot do better than Illinois or 
Iowa ; but for mixed farming I was somewhat attracted by the 
southern part of Wisconsin. If he requires a cattle ranche, 
Wyoming is the best locality ; but the ground there is 
mostly taken up. Montana is highly spoken of for cattle and 
sheep, and in this State there is room and to spare. Washington 
Territory is a new field recently opened up, and is reported to 
be good for general farming, and to produce first-rate hops. The 
main feature in selecting land in Montana is to procure a river 
frontage, let it be ever so small. Without this, or water of some 
kind, cattle ranching is useless. If possessed of a river frontage 
a man can have as much grazing land in the rear as he can 
utilize, for no one will care to interfere with him there. I have, 
perhaps, already said more than enough about Canada; so I need 
not further refer to it than to say that it is worth while for a 
farmer with capital, who does not care to rough it in Manitoba, 
or the North- West, to cast an eye to Ontario, where there are 
many improved farms now available, at a cheaper rate than a 
few years ago. 

In reference to Mr. G. C. Battiscombe's letter, published in 
the Hereford Times of January 5th, I must own in the first place 
that I cannot see its drift. I have certainly said nothing in my 
articles to induce a man to suppose that he can " immediately 
take up his homestead and begin to plough, and have his house 
and stable built in a few days." No reasonable man would 
suppose that he c mid. On the contrary, I have said in the veiy 
article to which hs refers (No. VI.), that " if a man wants to 
settle he ought to take no one's advice, but should visit the 
country and judge for himself ;" and this recommendation I have 
repeated in my concluding article. If married, a man must 



90 

decide whether to take his wife " land prospecting," or not ; but 
I should certainly not advise him to do so, both on account of the 
expense, and of the discomforts to which she would be exposed. 
I may also mention that there are many married men now living 
in Manitoba, and the North- West, who have left their wives 
behind them. The ladies, as a rule, do not like the dulness of a 
prairie life, and often promise to follow when things are made 
more comfortable for them. 

As to Mr. Battiscombe's figures, though some of the items 
are different, the two estimates, if compared, come to very much 
the same in the end. 

In my estimate I added, " Of course a single man can 
make the necessaiy deductions, and a married man with a family 
the necessary additions." It is of this estimate that Mr. 
Battiscombe says, " This is the principal statement that I really 
do not understand, unless he (Mr. Barneby) intends that the 
settler should borrow money at the very beginning of his new 
career. " I must express my regret at my statement not being under- 
stood, though I do not think I could have made it much clearer ; 
but I fail to see that Mr. Battiscombe's statement in reply throws 
any fresh light on the subject. I never hinted that a settler 
should borrow money at starting, but expressly stated (see 
Article VI.) " I am of opinion that a settler, to do well, should 
not start with less than £300 to draw upon." Of course, as in 
England, the more he has the better. In any case, the first two 
or three years of settling must be very hard and roug'h work ; 
and, as I have said, many people consider that a man should 
have enough money to keep him two years instead of one : — • 
I added that it must be remembered, that if he takes up land 
in the early spring of one year, he cannot look for any return 
from his corn crops for at least eighteen months afterwards. 

The only point, as far as I can make out, on which Mr. 
Battiscombe really disagrees with me is as to the call for labour. 
The expression I used in Article YI. was as follows : — " I see no 
call at present for an influx of the labouring classes into the 
North- West ; for, except where capitalists or companies employ 
labour, the settlers have as much as they can do to support 
themselves, without employing outside labour, except in the 
busy time of the year." In the present undeveloped state of the 
country, it appears to me that every man is anxious to be a 
master, and not a labourer ; and that this is the true reason why 
wages are so high, and why there is, apparently, a scarcity of 
labour to those who want to procure men's services as in Eng- 
land. It must also be remembered that the long winters, with 
nothing to do except feeding cattle and cutting wood, naturally 
preclude a farmer keeping more extra hands than absolutely 
necessary during that time ; hence, I think I am right in 
cautioning labourers not to rush into a country where (until its 
resources are more developed) constant employment is, to say 
the least, uncertain. 



91 

I speak of the country as it was last autiiinn, and I think 
Articles VII. and VIII. will amply show the deficiency of 
capital. 

I have also, in Article VIII. quoted the then existing rate 
of wages in Manitoba, and I was told by a man that he could get 
as many labourers as he wanted. It is also a significant fact that 
we found a camp of sixty railway workmen in the North-West, 
who had been out of employment for three months, and who 
stated that they could not get any work. 

In the remarks I have made I have only quoted information 
given me by settlers themselves ; and I have written impartially, 
as a casual observer travelling through the country, and not as 
one interested in any particular locality. Mr. Battiscombe may 
see, if he reads my article again, that I have several times 
deprecated the way in which land in Manitoba and other parts 
has been taken up and held by speculators, &c. Anyone who 
visits the country must see the bad effects of this on all sides. 



W. HENRY BARNEBY. 



Bredenbury Court, Bromyard, 
January 16th, 1884. 



l8Ag'36 



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